Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Targets School Choice Opponents in GOP Ranks

Americans want choice in education. Politicians need to catch up.

In political shorthand, school choice is treated as a conservative and Republican issue. But denying people the ability to make choices of any sort is a control issue. While the GOP generally favors freedom in the area of education, some of its elected officials still like to exercise power over families and children. That's why Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is following in the footsteps of other Republicans in targeting legislators from his own party who oppose letting parents guide their children's education.

"Gov. Greg Abbott is starting to make good on his threat to politically target fellow Republicans who oppose school vouchers, issuing his first endorsement of a primary challenger to a House member who has helped thwart his top legislative priority of the year," The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek reported last week.

A Party Divided Over School Choice

Abbott's move comes after 21 House Republicans joined Democrats to strip education savings accounts (ESAs) from an education funding bill, dooming the effort for the year. The failed bill would have made $10,500 available annually for each eligible student in ESAs, essentially allocating a portion of education funding to follow students instead of dedicating it to specific brick-and-mortar schools. GOP opponents of the bill are largely legislators from rural districts where members of the public-school establishment are important political players.

According to EdChoice, which advocates for education freedom, ESAs are restricted to specified uses and "parents may use the funds to pay for expenses including: school tuition, tutoring, online education programs, therapies for students with special needs, textbooks or other instructional materials, and sometimes, save for college." Thirteen states have adopted some form of ESA to expand families' abilities to guide where and how their children learn without having to pay for their preferences on top of taxes.

Abbott isn't the first Republican to have to battle members of his own party over school choice. The Kansas House narrowly passed an ESA measure in March with 22 GOP legislators voting against education freedom. The measure later died in the Senate.

"Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly strongly opposed using state tax dollars to help parents pay for private or home schooling, and GOP conservatives had trouble winning over rural Republicans who didn't think families living in areas with few private schools would receive much of a benefit," reported the AP.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was able to sign education savings accounts into law this year only after an initial loss at the hands of lawmakers from her own party.

"The school choice movement is gaining momentum, but one obstacle continues to be Republicans in the suburbs and some rural areas who are allied with the teachers unions," The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted at the time. "They mistakenly figure their schools are fine and they've already exercised choice by where they live."

Reynolds overcame the opposition by removing it from power; she endorsed primary challenges to members of her own party who opposed school choice. With new legislators in office, the measure passed.

Overcoming Myths About Rural Education Freedom

Rural lawmakers in Texas and elsewhere sometimes argue that their thinly settled districts offer too few options to make choice practical. But research from Florida found that, as anybody who has taken an economics class should expect, supply expanded to meet demand when that state made education funding portable. In Florida, the number of private schools in rural areas almost doubled between 2001 and 2021.

"Like so many other myths about school choice—that it destroys traditional public schools, that it doesn't lead to better academic outcomes, that it lacks accountability—the myth about school choice not working in rural areas doesn't stand up to scrutiny," the report authors wrote.

Abbott now seems to be following Reynolds' footsteps in order to emulate her success in ousting school choice opponents from the legislature in order to pass measures giving all children the same options kids from wealthier families have in selecting education that works for them. Frankly, children in Texas need a lot more in the way of options.

Room for Improvement

"Texas ranks #30 for education choice," according to the Heritage Foundation's Education Freedom Report Card. "Texas does fairly well in empowering families to choose among charter schools but could do much more to expand private education choice. Texas respects the autonomy of homeschooling families. Texas could improve its ranking by enacting a K–12 education savings account (ESA) policy, making it easier for charter schools to open and operate, and giving families a choice of traditional public schools beyond their assigned school."

Iowa's adoption of ESAs bumped the state up five positions in the same report card, to number four. Kansas, where the ESA bill failed this year, languishes in 23rd place for education choice.

In addition to his support for a primary challenger, "Abbott has already endorsed for reelection all the House Republicans who voted against the amendment that removed the voucher program from the education legislation," adds Svitek for The Texas Tribune. It's a sign that the governor plans to reinforce his allies as much as undermine his opponents.

Politicians Need to Catch Up with the Public

Whatever the reason for the squabbling and power plays among elected officials, school choice is increasingly popular with Americans.

"The concept of school choice enjoys overwhelming support (71% vs. 13% opposed)," the American Federation for Children announced in July. "This is true across party lines, with 66% of Democrats, 80% of Republicans, and 69% of Independents saying they support such a policy."

The question defined school choice as giving "parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child's education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their needs," encompassing ESAs as well as vouchers and other means of funding children instead of institutions. Support for choice was up seven points from April 2020, before families had fully experienced the failures of public schools in dealing with COVID-19. And people are voting with their feet.

In February, the Urban Institute reported that while public school enrollment is declining, private schools and homeschooling are on the rise. Publicly funded, privately run charter schools are also gaining popularity.

Americans have already decided they want choice in education. It's time for politicians of all parties to catch up.