As districts, parents seek better education outcomes, Texas lawmakers weigh school choice

GRANGER — On an overcast Thursday before Thanksgiving, the halls inside Granger district schools were bright with color and sound.

In Granger High School, students were preparing for an away football game in San Antonio. Football players wore their jerseys and yellow construction vests for their spirit theme of “bulldoze the Tigers.” In the elementary school, a handful of steps from the high school, kindergartners colored drawings of turkeys and ate mashed potatoes for their pre-holiday lunch.

“It’s a good group of kids,” Superintendent Jeni Neatherlin said as she walked down the halls of the schools, tucked away in a neighborhood.

The school is the focal point for the northeastern Williamson County town, Neatherlin said. Along the town’s main drag, homes and businesses displayed austere lion statues, like the ones in front of the high school.

“We work collaboratively with everything,” Neatherlin said. “We're the pinpoint of information. Even our city will send us stuff to put in our newsletter to send out.”

Neatherlin, like many superintendents across Texas, worries about the possibility of an education savings account program.

The proposal, also called vouchers or school choice, would use state tax dollars to pay for a student’s private school tuition or other education-related expenses, and it has dominated Texas education debates for a year.

However, for parents like Jennifer Smeltzer, a school choice program could make all the difference for families sacrificing to send their child to a private school.

“You just have to budget better,” said Smeltzer, who has a third-grade daughter at Brentwood Christian School in North Austin. “You know in the summer you’re going to drop $750 for uniforms. You don’t get to have the newest, latest stuff.”

For her, the sacrifice is worth it to give her daughter a small, family-centered environment with attentive staff, she said.

“Her self-worth and who she is, the school molds that,” Smeltzer said. “That, in this day and age, is invaluable to a kid.”

Lawmakers in the Texas House on Friday will debate House Bill 1, a $7.6 billion proposal that would use tax dollars to pay a child’s private school tuition or other education-related costs and pump billions into public schools.

The bill would give $10,500 per child for private school and prioritize low-income and special education students.

But both public school administrators fearful of the program and parents who want to benefit from it are seeking better education environments. Both want to grow and cultivate a small, student-focused learning environment that acts like a supportive family. Where they disagree is whether a school choice program would hinder or enhance that effort.

The Texas school choice, voucher debate

For a year, Gov. Greg Abbott has thrown his political weight behind school choice. When lawmakers failed to pass the legislation in the regular spring session, he called them back for 30-day special sessions this fall.

The issue has drawn passionate opposition from Democrats and rural House Republicans who worry a voucher program will gut public school funding. Abbott and other Republican lawmakers, however, insist that school choice is a way to get students out of failing public schools.

Parent choice

Smeltzer said private school has been life changing.

“We have easy access to the teachers and principals,” Smeltzer said.

For Smeltzer and Cristal Lange, who has a junior at Brentwood, raising their children in Christian environments, surrounded by the values they support at home, was just as important as a strong academic background.

“Our choice was about ensuring that the values that we hold came across in the education setting,” Lange said. “You get to talk about how things are on the molecular level and then you get to see that reflected in a godly way.”

Concerns about school choice's effects on students, communities

For some superintendents, the main concern with a voucher program is the effect on students and the community.

Tommy Hooker, superintendent of the Thrall district, has seen students leave public schools and return after their parents didn’t feel like their needs were met elsewhere. That means the public school has to catch the child back up, he said.

“It’s going to create a huge, huge educational gap,” Hooker said.

In Granger, the school provides many resources to the community, too, Neatherlin said.

The construction of a Samsung semiconductor plant in Taylor is driving growth to the area.

The district, which graduates about 30 students per year, grew from 457 to 506 students between 2020 and 2022, a 10.7% increase.

A loss of 10 students could mean cutting some programs for those communities, she said.

'The slippery slope'

Smeltzer and Lange know a school choice program wouldn’t be perfect for every child, especially considering they both battle traffic to get their children to Brentwood.

But it could help people, Smeltzer said. Already, she pays property taxes for schools her child doesn’t attend, she said.

“How come they can get my free money, but my kid’s not getting anything out of that?” Smeltzer said.

For Neatherlin, the Granger superintendent, it’s about more than money.

HB 1 does propose to invest a lot of money into public schools, but it’s not worth it to create a voucher program, she said.

“That’s the slippery slope,” Neatherlin said.

Once the program is created, it’s not likely to go away, she said. The funding for public schools, on the other hand, could get cut at any time.

“There’s not a guarantee in two years or four years,” Neatherlin said. “We’re tightening up our budget, and we’re just going to do without for a while.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers look to school choice as districts, parents seek fixes