Are vouchers coming to Texas? Lawmakers resume fight over program during Austin hearing

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- On the first day of school for tens of thousands of students, Texas legislators talked about school choice, also known as vouchers of education savings accounts.

After multiple failed attempts in the last legislative session, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott now seems likely to have the votes to pass school choice in the next session.

Already, the Texas House Public Education Committee is talking about what that might look like in Texas. If approved, the voucher program would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling.

In a crowded hearing room at the state capitol, a panel of school choice experts from Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Utah, and Florida discussed the benefits of using public money for private schooling with state representatives.

"When you put the students first, you always win," Tina Kaetzel with the State of Indiana said. It was a thought that permeated the testimony of several school choice advocates.

They each testified that there are a variety of options for implementing school choice, ranging from which students should benefit to how much money the state should allocate.

"Choosing a school is a personal decision. It is emotional, and it is high stakes," Colleen Dippel with the Texas advocacy group Families Empowered said.

Abbott told ABC13 in July that he knows it will pass in some form in 2025, but what that looks like is still up in the air.

"There are multiple paths that must be achieved," Abbott said. "But one of them has to be that if a child is stuck in a failing school, a parent should have the right to move that child to another school."

RELATED: Gov. Greg Abbott says he has enough votes after election to pass school voucher program

Republican Brandon Creighton is the chair of the Education Committee of the Senate.

"I think we'll continue again with the weighted formula to make sure that those kids that need this help the most will get it first," Creighton said. "And then it will be more of a universal type bill, where all kids will be eligible."

However, there are opponents who contend that Texas schools are already underfunded and that sending any amount of money to private schools would irreparably harm public education.

Among those critics was educator and professor David DeMatthews, who spoke at a press conference ahead of Monday's hearing.

"I say that Texas' most famous pastime is not Friday Night Lights, enjoying a barbecue, or going to Whataburger," DeMatthews said. "It's rejecting vouchers."

Opponents worry it would reduce public school funding, but recent polls show that around two-thirds of Texans support a voucher-like program.

READ MORE: Most Texas adults support school vouchers, new survey finds

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat from Austin, is on the committee. She was not impressed by the information provided at Monday's hearing.

"I guess we're just abandoning making data-informed or data-driven decisions when it comes to taxpayer dollars," Hinojosa said.

The Senate has repeatedly voted in favor of school choice or education savings accounts.

For the most part, Democrats in the House have opposed school choice along with rural Republicans.

Abbott targeted Republicans who voted against vouchers in the last session, and enough of them lost their primaries that it seems certain it will pass next session.

The state may implement school choice in any number of ways. While it's likely to become law, what that law will look like, how much money the state allocates, and who gets to participate are still unknown.

The committee is meeting both Monday and Tuesday.

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