As Greg Abbott attempts to rebrand his devastatingly unpopular school voucher scam with a new “Texas Two-Step” plan, HB 2 and HB 3, Texans should know the truth: these bills are yet another choreographed deception that would drain billions from neighborhood schools and leave Texas kids even further behind. House Democrats are united in opposition to voucher scams, and stand ready to fully fund our public schools to the level they deserve.
The legislative package introduced today, combining House Bills 2 and 3, represents the largest and most expensive private school voucher scheme ever proposed in the Texas House. While proponents tout the bill as a "Texas Two-Step" for education, the package would fill just 20% of the $18 billion funding gap facing our neighborhood schools - a crisis created by Gov. Abbott’s years of holding the basic allotment hostage. Despite claims that this package will benefit Texas students and educators, the numbers tell a different story:
The voucher program would provide up to $10,500 per student, yet the average private school tuition in many cities across Texas ranges from $14,000 to $25,000, leaving working families unable to bridge the gap.
Despite claims of prioritizing low-income students, HB3 includes no minimum number of seats that must go to low-income families.
When low-income families can't use their "priority" spots due to cost barriers and lack of access, those seats automatically roll over to wealthy families, becoming a taxpayer-funded subsidy for families who already pay for private school.
The bottom line? A program claiming to help low-income students but requiring nothing to guarantee their access is a program designed to subsidize private school tuition for wealthy families.
“Across my nearly four decades in education and two decades of work in the Texas House, I’ve never seen such a brazen attempt to undermine our local schools,” said Rep. Alma Allen, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Special Committee on Education. “Texas children deserve real investment in their future, not a choreographed routine designed to mask the largest attack on public education in Texas history.”
"Governor Abbott thinks he can dance his way around the truth, but Texans see right through this multibillion-dollar hustle," said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu. "This is nothing more than the latest iteration of the scheme to starve our public schools while padding private school profits with taxpayer dollars. The Governor is trying to waltz away with our children's future."
“In the long run, this voucher bill would take far more money out of our public schools
than what is being proposed this session,” said Rep. James Talarico, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Special Committee on Education. “Vouchers are a scam that takes precious tax dollars out of our neighborhood schools and into unaccountable private schools that can discriminate against kids.”
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