The House Public Education Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2 to the full House at a formal committee meeting April 3.
SB 2—passed by the Texas Senate in February—would earmark $1 billion to create an education savings account program, which would give some families public money to cover private school tuition.
State lawmakers in support of education savings accounts say the program would expand educational options for families, while opponents argue it would divert funding from public school districts facing financial challenges.
After numerous failed attempts to pass a similar proposal in 2023, advancing an education savings account program has been a top priority for Texas Republican leaders this session, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
HB 2, by Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, would raise the state’s base per-student school funding by $395 with automatic biennial increases tied to property value growth. The bill would increase funding for the Teacher Incentive Allotment as well as prekindergarten and emergent bilingual students, and teacher certifications.
“Today is just another step in the long process of what it takes to pass a historic funding bill for public education,” Buckley said
The overview
SB 2 would create state-run education savings accounts, which families could use to pay for private school tuition and other educational expenses, such as textbooks or transportation. Most participating students would receive about $10,000 per year, or 85% of the per-student funding public schools receive from state and local sources, under the House’s version of the plan.
During the 2022-23 school year, the average Texas public school received $12,815 per student in state and local funds, according to Texas Education Agency data.
Students with disabilities would receive up to $30,000 under SB 2. Families who homeschool their children would receive up to $2,000 annually.
The bill would prioritize applications from students with special needs and families with annual incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line—about $64,000 per year for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, any Texas family would be eligible to apply for the program, regardless of income.
The update
Approved changes to SB 2 by the House committee would limit students participating in ESAs who are not low-income or without disabilities to 20%. The ESA program would prioritize students in public school over those already enrolled in private institutions—a provision that would expire after the 2026-27 school year.
The updated legislation would place a $1 billion spending cap on ESAs in the first two years of the program. The Legislature would then decide how much to continue allocating toward the program, Buckley said.
Some committee members said the ESA program was expected to become increasingly expensive upon expanding in future years and could subsidize families who already enroll their children in private schools.
“You're actually going to be taking the tax dollars of plumbers and nurses and working people, and you're going to be subsidizing the tuition of wealthy families who already have their kids at [private schools],” Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, said at the April 3 meeting. “That is a transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.”
Private schools would be required to test students from third to 12th grade in alignment with public schools, Buckley said. Students who returned to public school after using an ESA would be exempt from the district’s accountability rating and bring districts an additional 10% of state funding for the remainder of the school year, according to the bill.
House lawmakers added a provision to SB 2 that students would have to be U.S. citizens or lawful residents to participate in the ESA program.
What else?
HB 2 would allocate an additional $7.7 billion for public education. The committee updated HB 2 to raise base school funding from $220 to $395. This would put the state’s basic allotment at $6,555 with automatic increases related to property value growth every two years. The bill would increase the percentage of the basic allotment that districts must spend on teacher pay raises from 30% to 40%.
The updated bill would increase funding for prekindergarten students by adding it to the early education allotment and raise funding for emergent bilingual students by $450 million. The state would provide districts a one-time payment of $1,000 to uncertified teachers who become certified by the end of the 2025-26 school year.
HB 2 would also allocate districts $8,000 a year for “grow your own” teacher programs. Under the program, districts could assist current employees in acquiring 60 hours of college credit to become teachers and provide teacher preparation education for high school students.
As the percentage of uncertified teachers in Texas grows, HB 2 would restrict districts from hiring uncertified teachers to teach math, English, social studies and science courses.
The bill would expand the amount of additional pay teachers could earn under the Teacher Incentive Allotment, which aims to help high performing teachers reach a six-figure salary. Under HB 2, teachers could earn up to an additional $36,000 on top of their traditional salaries, instead of the current maximum of $32,000.
For special education, the bill proposes overhauling funding to allocate resources based on students’ individual needs, rather than where they receive services. In a December 2022 report, the Texas Commission on Special Education Funding said switching to this funding model would "effectively account for the unique, individualized needs of students with disabilities.”
What they’re saying
While Talarico called HB 2 a “good step forward” in helping districts, he said the basic allotment would need to increase by $1,400 to reach funding levels from 2019, when lawmakers last increased base school funding to $6,160.
“We said that this was a historic school funding bill, but our schools are in a historic hole, and this bill does not even catch us up to 2019 funding levels,” Talarico said.
Democratic committee members raised concerns about ESAs pulling funding from public school districts, many of which have adopted mounting budget shortfalls and made budget cuts.
In a fiscal note released March 11, the nonpartisan Texas Legislative Budget Board noted public schools “may experience a decrease in [funding] as a result of the bill due to students leaving public schools to participate in the ESA program.” Texas funds its public schools based on student attendance.
“Our focus should be on investing in what is the right of every student in the state of Texas and not creating this lifeboat for people to leave the system, just a certain few, just a chosen few, when there's so much work to do in our ISDs,” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said.
In a sit-down interview with Community Impact, Patrick said the state has “increased funding dramatically” for public education over the last decade.
“On ESAs, we're spending [about $80 billion] for public education and $1 billion for school choice,” Patrick said. “There are 5.5 million students in Texas public schools, and there's going to be 100,000 in school choice. There's just no way that that undermines the school system.”
Funding for ESAs would not come from state money earmarked from public education, Buckley said, adding he believed a child’s address should not dictate the quality of their education. ESAs would provide greater opportunities to children whose circumstances may prevent them from attending private schools, he said.
“What we're trying to do is to give parents more tools in their toolbox because raising kids and educating kids is difficult,” Buckley said. “This body cannot contemplate the circumstances some children are placed [in], and this is just another option for parents.”
Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, said she believed SB 2 would “eventually destroy public schools,” and noted that private schools are not required to accept all students. Under SB 2, private schools would not have to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—a federal law requiring public schools to serve students with disabilities.
What’s next
SB 2 and HB 2 were sent to the full House. Seventy-five House Republicans have signed onto SB 2’s companion bill, HB 3, as co-authors, indicating the bill may have the majority support needed to pass the 150-member House this year.
If the bills are passed by the majority of state lawmakers, they will be sent to Abbott’s desk for his signature before becoming law.
Hannah Norton contributed to this article.
