There’s an education reform that is wildly popular with parents and actually improves student achievement. Those are the reasons it has faced such fierce opposition.
On Monday, Texas announced that it had awarded Texas Education Freedom Accounts to an additional 53,000 students. Those accounts are Texas’ version of education savings accounts. Parents can opt out of the traditional public school system and receive a portion of what the state would have spent on their child. Families choosing to attend a private school receive around $10,500 per child. Home-schooling families can receive $2,000 annually. Students with disabilities can receive more.
Here’s what’s interesting. More than 274,000 students applied for the program, around the Clark County School District’s enrollment. That’s overwhelming demand. Texas allocated $1 billion in funding for the program. That means there wasn’t enough money to go around.
To distribute the money, Texas separated students into tiers. The first tier was low- or middle-income students with disabilities. There were around 30,000 students in that group. Last month, Texas awarded accounts to all these students and their siblings, totaling more than 42,000 students.
The second priority tier included around 79,000 students, and they all came from low-income households. The 53,000 students who received good news this week came from this group.
One of the left’s common objections to school choice is that it will benefit only rich families and bright students. The poor and undesirable students, the argument goes, will be left behind.
But what happened in Texas shows the premise of this argument is false. Poor families and families of students with disabilities want more options, too.
Well-structured school choice programs have positive effects for both students who participate and those who remain in public schools. EdChoice’s “The 123s of school choice” report provides a good overview of the evidence. It shows that the vast majority of studies on the topic show school choice leads to better academic performance in public schools. Competition is a powerful motivator.
On the merits, school choice is a clear winner. That’s why Gov. Joe Lombardo has worked to expand school choice in Nevada. But legislative Democrats and their union allies have opposed his efforts. They appear motivated by political considerations, not doing what’s best for students.
Texas shows why that’s such a mistake — and how the left’s opposition to school choice hurts students from low-income families.
