Testimony provided by Charles Luke, Ed.D. – Coordinator of the Coalition for Public Schools
Chairman Creighton and members of the Senate Education K-16 Committee,
My name is Charles Luke and I represent the Coalition for Public Schools, a group of over 40 public school advocacy organizations. We are opposed to SB2 for the following reasons:
We believe SB2 is a voucher bill as it requires a transfer of public funds to private entities. This is the definition of a voucher.
We believe SB2 violates the separation of church and state by allowing the transfer of taxpayer funds to private, religious schools. This is a bedrock constitutional principle which protects religious freedom in our country by ensuring that the state does not establish a favored religion through funding or any other means and guarantees the free exercise of religion without government intervention.
Special needs students relinquish their federal protections under SB2. The bill requires the private school participating in the program to post notice that they are not subject to the same laws as a public school, (See SB2 Sec. 29.367. SPECIAL EDUCATION NOTICE. (a) A certified educational assistance organization shall post on the organization's Internet website and provide to each parent who submits an application for the program a notice that: (1) states that a private school is not subject to federal and state laws regarding the provision of educational services to a child with a disability in the same manner as a public school; and (2) provides information regarding rights to which a child with a disability is entitled under federal and state law if the child attends a public school, including:(A) rights provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1400 et seq.)
We believe that SB2 subsidizes the private school tuition of affluent families at taxpayer expense. The bill defines low-income families “at or below” 500% of the federal poverty line. Using the federal guideline of $31,200 for a family of four in 2024 that amounts to $156,000 for the same family to qualify for the program under SB2 – hardly a family in poverty.
Finally, we are concerned about the potential cost of such a program to the state of Texas. Aside from the $1 billion dollars budgeted in SB1 for this program, there could be enormous costs to the state should the program be implemented statewide. Universal voucher programs have led to substantial budget stress in many states. Initial cost estimates in Florida were that the program would cost between $200 and $700 million, but by the 2023-24 school year, those costs had exploded to between $2.8 and $4.2 billion.
Enrollment in Indiana’s private-school voucher program surged to 70,095 students in 2023-24 -a 31 percent increase compared to the previous year. The state paid $439 million in tuition grants to private schools — 40 percent more than in 2022-23, according to a state report by the Indiana Department of Education. While vouchers are often touted as a civil rights issue, participation in that state is around 60% white students.
Arizona’s voucher experiment has since caused a budget meltdown. The state this past year faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was a result of the new voucher spending. Data shows that voucher use in this state is higher among wealthier families, leading to something social scientists call the Matthew Effect: Those with more resources continue to accumulate advantages, while those with less are further marginalized. 75% of Universal ESA vouchers go to students who were already in private school and never previously attended public school.
With regard to student outcomes Josh Cowen - Professor of Education Policy at the College of Education, Michigan State University says “the last decade of research on traditional vouchers strongly suggests they actually lower academic achievement.” He cites voucher programs in Louisiana and Indiana as having negative academic impacts greater and near that of COVID 19 respectively. Researchers for the American Educational Research Association found that students transferring back into public schools from the Milwaukee voucher program “realize substantial achievement gains after moving to the public sector; these results are robust to multiple analytical approaches.” As Cowen says, “if the goal is to simply improve public school outcomes, studies showing the impact of directly funding public schools are far more prevalent.”
This data is only a sampling of the research that is available on this issue. I have provided citations as part of my testimony and I encourage you or your staff to carefully review research impartially before you consider moving forward on this topic. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me using the contact information I have provided. Thank you for your time.
Respectfully Submitted,
Charles Luke, Ed.D.
References
Research on school vouchers suggests concerns ahead for education savings accounts
Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?
Vouchers in the Bayou: The Effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program on Student Achievement After 2 Years
The Effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program on Student Achievement and College Entrance
Impact of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program: Achievement Effects for Students in Upper Elementary and Middle School†
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