Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a school choice bill into law on Saturday that will allocate $1 billion for a voucher program that allows parents to use public funds to pay for their child’s private school tuition.
The program’s implementation caps off a yearslong effort by Republicans who have been advocating for school choice. Voucher supporters have long focused on Texas, where previous efforts failed amid resistance from Democrats and rural Republicans.
Last month, President Donald Trump called on state lawmakers ahead of a key vote on the bill to finally send the measure to Abbott’s desk. The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2 by a party-line 19-12 vote on April 24 after the state House approved the bill by an 86-63 vote the week before.
“When I ran for reelection in 2022, I promised school choice for the families of Texas,” Abbott said before signing the bill at the governor’s mansion. “Today, we deliver on that promise.”
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Abbott was joined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, state House Speaker Dustin Burrows, bill author and state Sen. Brandon Creighton, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, school choice advocates and students and their families.
“From here forward, [Texas students] will have unlimited potential and unlimited options in education to pursue for the rest of their path and education and what their families do best, and that in of itself was worth the journey,” Creighton said.
Texas joins more than 30 other states that already have similar programs. The Lone Star State will have the largest voucher program in the country.
School vouchers have been Abbott’s main focus this year, following last year’s election cycle in which he called for Republican primary voters to remove from office GOP lawmakers who voted against a similar bill in the last legislative session that the governor had supported.
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Supporters of the bill say it will give parents more options by allowing them to take their children out of poor-performing public schools in favor of alternative public or private school choices.
“Gone are the days that families are limited to only the schools assigned by government,” Abbott said. “The day has arrived that empowers parents to choose the school that is best for their child.”
Democrats and Republicans in rural districts who have criticized the program argue that it will pull financial resources from Texas’ public school students and subsidize the private education of wealthy families.
“Let’s be clear: this bill is only best for the richest people in the state, and rural Texas especially will get the shaft,” Texas Democratic Party chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement. “To top it all off, Abbott’s school shut-downs are in full-swing with no end in sight.”
Starting next school year, families can receive $10,000 per year to help pay for their child’s private school tuition or costs for home-schooling and virtual learning programs. Children with disabilities can qualify for as much as $30,000 per year.
The program will be capped at $1 billion for the first year and cover up to 90,000 students. But by 2030, it could cost up to $4.5 billion per year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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