Texas school choice drew millions in statewide campaign spending. What groups gave money?

All summer, education lobbyists and state politicians have geared up for a highly anticipated battle this fall over "school choice," a fight that has drawn millions of dollars of campaign and advertising money from Texas billionaires and businesspeople.

On Friday, journalists on social media circulated a letter from Gov. Greg Abbott to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick confirming a special session will begin Oct. 9.

In the spring, school choice – a program in which the state uses public money to fund part or all of a students’ private school education – became a focus of Abbott, divided the Texas House and Senate and largely drove the conversation about other education-related topics.

In the past year, billionaires who've said they supported school choice have poured millions into Texas political groups and advertising. Although vouchers using public money for private schools aren't a new issue in Texas, statewide changes to the Republican Party are more closely aligning some lawmakers with the priorities of wealthy donors.

Last week, school choice advocacy group the American Federation for Children announced the creation of a new political action committee: the AFC Victory Fund. The group will fund candidates who support school choice in districts that have an incumbent lawmaker historically in opposition to the program, said Scott Jensen, a senior strategist.

The federation plans to spend at least $10 million through the PAC on local races nationwide.

More: Texas House panel signals student success, school choice to top education special session

Who are the groups giving money?

The Texas Federation for Children – the Texas spending arm of school choice advocacy group the American Federation for Children – raised more than $900,000 and spent more than $1 million between March 2022 and August 2023, according to campaign finance reports.

The Texas PAC will continue, but the national victory fund will make it easier to raise money nationwide, Jensen said. In 2020 and 2022, the federation was largely focused on the primaries in Texas, which will likely be the case again, he said.

"In the Republican primary, the voters overwhelmingly support school choice," Jensen said. "It's become one of the pillars of the Republican faith: pro-life, anti-tax, pro-gun, for school choice."

Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband, Richard, each gave $125,000 in August of last year to the Texas political action committee, according to campaign records. DeVos, who served under former President Donald Trump, was a hero for school choice advocates during her term and championed religious education and help for private schools.

The Texas Federation for Children didn’t give directly much money to many candidates. In the summer of 2022, it did give about $21,500 each to Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, and Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, according to records.

Other PACs support school choice among a host of other issues.

Conservative PAC Defend Texas Liberty advocates for a wide range of issues so it's difficult to say any one transaction was based solely on support for school choice, but several of its wealthy donors have advocated for the issue.

Defend Texas Liberty’s war chest gained almost $4 million between October 2022 and July 2023, and it spent more than $3.3 million.

Over that time, West Texas oil tycoon Tim Dunn and Farris and JoAnn Wilks from the wealthy Cisco-based family contributed millions. Both families have been outspoken about support for school choice and have a history of donations to conservative groups like Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life.

Dunn contributed $2.9 million to Defend Texas Liberty and the Wilkses put in $2.6 million, according to campaign records.

The American-Statesman reached out to Dunn and to the Wilks family for this article with no response.

Defend Texas Liberty has donated to a whole host of politicians who have advocated – along with other conservative values – for school choice.

Over the last six months, the PAC gave Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, $4,000 and Senate education committee Chairman Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, $5,000. The group gave Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who named school choice one of his 2023 priorities, $50,000 in fall 2022.

A relatively new PAC, the Family Empowerment Coalition, this summer gave 20 lawmakers about $10,000 each, including Creighton. The group also gave money to Houston Democratic Reps. Harold Dutton Jr. and Shawn Thierry.

Initial donations to the group include $100,000 from Stacy Hock, a board member at conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, and $120,000 from Leo Linbeck III.

Linbeck co-founded Families Empowered, a nonprofit meant to help families “understand and navigate Texas school choice and all of the educational options available,” according to the group’s website.

Why is school choice such a big issue?

The prominence of school choice as a legislative issue this year can largely be attributed to Abbott's vehement support of the issue. Earlier this year, he spent months touring Texas private schools to push the program.

The money is pouring in because of momentum behind the issue, political experts have said.

The involvement of megadonors in Texas politics is, of course, nothing new, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor.

Some people see education as an area rife to expand the market-based principle that with more competition comes a better product, he said.

“They’ve made big money in a successful market in Texas, and they want to see that applied other ways,” Rottinghaus said.

A cultural and religious debate

However, school choice is part of an overlap of economic and philosophical beliefs.

School choice has become a baton for Christian nationalism, an idea that the country was founded on Christian values and should remain so, said David Brockman, a nonresident scholar of religion and public policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Historically, legal precedent has prevented overt biblical teachings in public school. However, school choice creates another path for parents who want a religious upbringing for their child, he said.

More: 'Go to the pulpit': Abbott calls on faith leaders to push for school choice in Texas

"This is kind of an alternative for raising up the next generation on biblical or conservative Christian values by taking the children out of the public schools, which they see as largely secular," Brockman said.

The issue is also indicative of a growing dissonance between the Republican Party and public school advocates.

“It's the view of Republican lawmakers that schools are run by progressives,” said Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor.

Democrats say the state hasn’t been funding schools enough, while some Republicans feel like schools are becoming too liberal, he said.

The fight over school choice is ultimately a signal of the changing Republican Party in Texas, Rottinghaus said.

The growth of the suburbs in Texas are fueling a demographic shift among Republicans toward more staunchly right-wing issues, driven both by newly elected members and by the money that fuels them.

“The money is more persuasive now in its ability to move the needle on school choice,” Rottinghaus said. “The party has kind of changed where the Republicans are more willing to listen to those interests.”

Rural Republicans — who represent districts where the local public school is often a community building block — have been less likely to support school choice.

While school choice issues have been discussed in the Legislature for decades, the changing nature of the party means such a program is more likely to get traction now, Jones said.

During the regular spring session, school choice legislation easily passed the Senate before reaching a sticking point in the House.

“Over the course of the past 10 years, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has built the Senate in his image,” Jones said.

Patrick, who runs the Senate, named school choice as one of his priorities for the spring session.

Despite the passionate opposition to school choice laws from public school advocates, Rottinghaus feels confident some kind of program – whether it’s universal or specific to certain students – will pass.

“The politics of this have pressured the system to the point where Republicans have to back some form of this,” Rottinghaus said. “It’s going to be a nasty fight.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas school choice drew millions in statewide campaign spending