School Choice is Bigger in Texas

It’s official: More than half of America’s K-12 students are now eligible to participate in a school choice program.

On May 3rd, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2 into law, making the Lone Star State the latest to enact a universal Education Savings Account program. According to the American Federation for Children, the one-billion-dollar Texas legislation will be the largest new school choice program in history. Individual ESA accounts, which will be valued at $10,000 or more, can be used for private school tuition, tutoring, transportation, special needs therapies, and other education-related expenses.

The program will begin serving 90,000 children and expand as needed. If initial demand exceeds available spaces, priority will be given to low-to-middle-income students and students with disabilities.

This year, Tennessee, Idaho, Wyoming, and now Texas have given parents greater access to the learning environments that will best help their children through educational choice. With school choice laws on the books in more than two-thirds of U.S. states, fifty-five percent of American children now have a chance to get the educational opportunities they deserve. Let’s bring school choice to Oregon soon.

Kathryn Hickok is Executive Vice President at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization, and Director of Cascade’s Children’s Scholarship Fund-Oregon program.