Texas Senate committee hears pros and cons of school choice measure

A Texas Senate committee kicked off its first round of hearings Tuesday on a controversial measure that would give public funds to parents who want to enroll their children in private schools or public charter schools.

Senate Bill 3 by Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, would establish educational savings accounts and tax credit scholarships to fund costs associated with parents moving their children from traditional public schools to private, parochial or charter schools.

“This is not a winner-take-all system. This is just a choice — it's another option. We're not trying to decimate anybody,” Taylor said in response to charges that his bill would divert money from cash-strapped public schools and give it to private schools. “This is competition to a healthy degree, but it's not like we're coming in and people are trying to take out certain schools.”

Outside the capitol, a coalition including the Senate Hispanic Caucus, Mexican-American Legislative Caucus and Texas Latino Education Coalition, took exception to Taylor’s view, as about 50 people gathered in protest of SB 3.

State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, vice chair of the Senate Hispanic Caucus, said vouchers would strip money for education from already vulnerable Latinos, African-Americans and other minorities in Texas.

“The proponents of this bill call it a ‘civil rights issue,’” he said. “Maybe if they spend more time inside a classroom rather than defunding it they’d learn a valuable history lesson.”

David Hinojosa, national director of policy with San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association, said that school choice reforms happening the last 10-15 years have struck a blow to neighborhood public schools and have underserved students, including students of color.

“Our concerns are that vouchers all across the country are not meeting the needs of students of color, of low-income students,” he said. “They are segregating students based on race and national origin and they are not leading to an increase in student achievement. Every student in the state of Texas should have a right to a strong neighborhood public school. SB 3 is not taking us there.”

At Tuesday's hearing, which drew more than 100 witnesses, Taylor defended his bill, pointing out that school districts would retain some funding in the first year that a student decides to leave a public school, giving it time to adjust without losing all per-pupil money they currently receive from the state.

“Basically, the school will have money without a student. It will actually have more money to spend on the kids who are still there,” he said. “It gives them a year to transition or maybe in the year, to see what they need to do to move their program forward, to be more competitive.”

Under Taylor’s bill, parents could use ESAs to pay for items such as private school tuition, educational software and tutoring for home school students. However, the bill would prohibit parents from using the money for food or child care.

Lindsey Burke, an education policy fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the ESA proposal would create an “unparalleled form of accountability” after citing statistics about Texas' poor student performance.

“Real accountability means being directly accountable to those who bear the consequences of your performances, which is exactly what ESAs do,” she said.

The Texas State Teacher Association and other advocacy groups have refuted Burke's claim about increased standards that benefit students.

“The most recent studies in several other states continue showing that voucher programs do not improve academic outcomes,” said Noel Candelaria, the association's president.

At the rally, C LeRoy Cavazos, government affairs vice-president at the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said it was their social responsibility to make sure that the Capitol remains in the hands of Texas children, who are the future workforce and economic vitality of the state.

“One in every four students graduating right now is a Latino in this state. Twenty percent of Texas businesses are founded and owned by foreign-born Texans,” Cavazos said. “This is not a civil rights issue. This is an economic issue and we must continue to defend those children. It’s the Legislature’s responsibility to fund public schools.”

According to a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin-based think tank, Texas public schools stand to lose over $2 billion from SB 3 vouchers while also benefiting higher income families more than lower income families.

The study said San Antonio ISD would suffer a financial loss of $21,043,455 if 5 percent of students opt for vouchers in one year.

Louis Malfaro, president of the American Federation of Teachers’ Texas branch, said that for the last 10 years, 850,000 new students entered the Texas public school system. Of those kids, 90 percent are Latino, African-American or Asian, he said.

“When ICE decided to raid schools and neighborhoods here in Austin, our school teachers stood up,” Malfaro said. “Let’s not forget that we have had black, brown and labor coalitions in the past and we have won elections and knocked down segregation.”