The Battle Over School Choice in Texas

Republicans in Texas and nationwide are pushing legislation that would siphon money from public education under the banner of “parents’ rights.” These plans, commonly known as vouchers, would give parents the money the state would have spent educating their children in public schools and allow them to put it toward homeschooling expenses, private school tuition or college savings accounts. Officials in rural communities warn these policies will chip away at already razor-thin public school budgets. Rural districts could see their funding cut in two ways: either as a result of losing local students directly to vouchers, or as a result of the overall pot of state funds being diluted to cover private and homeschooling expenses of students in far-away cities and suburbs, leaving less per-student funding for every district.