Dallas City Wire

Texas State Sen. Brandon Creighton said he remains confident in a bill he sponsored to create educations savings accounts was revised by a Texas House of Representatives Committee.

Senate Bill 8, which aims to create an an ESA program that would grant $8,000 per student to be used for education expenses, has passed the Senate but faces opposition in the House. Creighton took to Twitter to argue on behalf of the measure.

"I remain committed to the Texas Parental Bill of Rights, because lawmakers know that Texans overwhelmingly support school choice," Creighton wrote. "This session is a once in a generation opportunity to unleash the potential of education freedom, and I am confident there is still time to empower parents, lift up Texas teachers and to give Texas students the options they deserve."

According to the Texas Tribune, revisions to SB 8 would reduce the number of students eligible for ESAs as well as make changes to standardized testing and the restrictions on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation. Rep. Brad Buckley and other representatives proposed a meeting to vote to move the bill forward, but the House Education Committee denied the request by a 76-65 vote. The committee will give the bill a hearing on the measure, but it will only listen to invited testimony, the report stated.

Under the Senate version, an ESA program would serve as a voucher program, helping families pay for private school. The House version adds specific criteria for eligibility such as students with a disability, those who qualify for free or reduced lunch, or those who attend a campus that received a grade of 'D' or lower in its accountability rating the past two school years. A child would also be eligible if they have a sibling in the program, the Texas Tribune reported.

The House version would also require students in the program to take a state assessment test, and it would adjust the funding to about $10,500 a year if a child is educationally disadvantaged and has a disability, $9,000 if the child is educationally disadvantaged, and $7,500 for every other student. Additionally, the House version removes restrictions on teaching gender identity and sexual orientation, the report stated, although that version still could pass the House.

According to polling data, majority of Texas families support some form of school choice. The Texas Public Foundation recently wrote on Twitter, "75% of Republicans and almost half of Democrats are supportive of Education Savings Accounts. By a nearly 2:1 ratio, more respondents agreed that school choice would improve public education, not hurt it." 

In a University of Houston Poll, 62% of Texans living in rural areas support some form of school choice voucher option, and 53% of all Texans favor school vouchers, the Lone Star Standard reported.