Late last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a special session to pass a voucher bill, announcing that he would not sign any new increases to school funding without first passing legislation that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition.

One bill that was proposed during the special session would allow families to access $8,000 of taxpayer money to pay for private schools. Written by Republican Senator Brandon Creighton, the bill also allowed for teacher pay raises and increased public school funding. However, all of the bills that Texas lawmakers proposed during the fall special sessions failed to pass because a coalition of Democrats and rural Republican lawmakers do not support the idea of priavte school vouchers.

It’s not a secret that Texas public schools are severely underfunded; for example, San Antonio ISD considered closing down 20% of its schools. And here in Austin ISD, the school board passed a budget with a $52 million deficit to pay for teacher pay raises to avoid having teachers leave for better paying jobs elsewhere.

Public schools deserve to be funded, but the way the governor is holding increased school funding hostage just to get lawmakers to support vouchers is bad for everyone, especially students and school staff caught in the middle of this political fight.

We believe that vouchers aren’t necessary, as private schools do not need the extra help that public schools do. Public schools are more deserving of funds to help students access a better future. Taking away money from public schools causes many programs to make cut backs, removing opportunities and support from students, including travel and competitions.

The governor’s proposal is to create so-called “Education Savings Accounts” would be used to redirect money to pay for private services that cannot be regulated. All of this money is being taken away from the public school system and stored in these funds, which will support unregulated spending. Instead of being able to use this money for in-school tutors that are way more needed in a public school, they are being used unfairly and given to those who may not need it as much as others. We believe public schools deserve more funding than private schools because there is more need.

According to a KUT article published in December, the latest estimates are that Austin ISD paid more than $900 million in recapture to the state last year — nearly 60% of all the property tax it collected. That left the district with about $10,500 per student last year — $2,000 less than the average Texas school district.More than half of Austin ISD’s 73,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged. According to the KUT article in some schools, like Webb Middle School on Austin’s North East Side, almost every student comes from low-income families, and nearly 90% are Latino.

However, some benefits come with vouchers. Their whole purpose is to help families give their children the opportunities and resources they will need to be successful. Vouchers will allow parents and guardians access thousands of dollars of taxpayer money. If the parents or guardians choose to take out their children from public schools, they will be allowed to access that money for the purpose of private schooling.

Chances are, Governor Abbott won’t give the public education system any more funding unless the voucher bill is passed. What we propose is for Abbott to give public school districts, such as Austin ISD and San Antonio ISD, the proper funding first, to show how the public school system can still thrive with adequate funding. AISD only received about $10,500 per student, compared to the national average of $14,347 per student in 2021. After a few years, if the public schools don’t perform to the taxpayer’s expectations, then the state can pass Abbott’s voucher system.

However,  Abbott is highly determined to pass this voucher bill, so the chances of passing a proposition like that aren’t high. Instead, as a second plan, we propose to fund schools adequately, but also implement a voucher system in just a few districts as a test run to see how it functions. Then, based on the results, the state can pass a bill on whether they want to implement a voucher system throughout the entire state. This solution would allow the possibility for future vouchers, as Abbott wants there to be, as well as finally give underfunded school districts the money they need to function properly. School vouchers should be the plan-B for funding school districts, not the other way around.

While Austin ISD continues to have issues with funding, vouchers have created conflicts with budgets and money within the district. The government has prioritized unecessary vouchers instead of prioritizing public school funding. The underfunding of the public schools within these districts has eliminated opportunities within clubs and organizations that could be useful to the involvement and education of the students within our district. In order for our students to succeed, we need to prioritize the funding of our public schools.