Legislation making its way through the Texas legislature would establish a universal education savings account (ESA) program open to all children in the Lone Star State.

These accounts would cover tuition, fees, and curricula for eligible children at private and parochial schools, as well as textbooks, private tutoring services, transportation costs, and educational therapies. Funds could also be used to cover the fees required to take national standardized achievement tests, such as the SAT, CLT, ACT, or AP examinations.

While the program is universal, in the case demand for the program outstrips budgeted funds, priority would be given to children with disabilities or those from households with incomes below 500 percent of the federal poverty level, which was $46,800 for a family of four in 2024.

Copious empirical research on school choice programs such as ESAs makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances, and that these programs improve academic performance and attainment while delivering a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools.

Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices. Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats. There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.

Not only are education choice programs good policy, they are also broadly popular. The Texas Trends 2024 survey of 2,300 Texans, commissioned by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston and Texas Southern University, found 69 percent of Texans support the adoption of a universal ESA program in the Lone Star State. That includes support from 74 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of independents, 61 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of black Texans, 72 percent of Hispanic Texans, 77 percent of low-income Texans, 77 percent of Millennials, and 74 percent of Gen Z.

Backing up Texas Trends 2024 is EdChoice’s “Public Opinion Tracker,” last updated on January 6, which finds 67 percent of all Texas adults and 72 percent of parents with school-aged children in favor of ESA programs.

What’s more, a universal ESA program is sorely needed in Texas because the state’s public schools are habitually failing children. In 2024, only 43 percent of Texas’ public school fourth-graders and 24 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” to grade level in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 28 percent of fourth-graders and 25 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Texas children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math.

The goal of public education in Texas today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. There has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and more needed than right now.

Unfortunately, the school choice wave is threatening to pass Texas by, and the Lone Star State now trails neighboring Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, as well as Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and a host of other states when it comes to providing education freedom to its residents. The Heritage Foundation ranked Texas just 31st overall for education choice in the latest version of its of its Education Freedom Report Card. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma all sit in the top 10 states according to this metric, at fifth, eighth, and seventh, respectively.

Simply put, states with robust and expansive school choice programs will be more attractive to families who have the ability to migrate to the state of their choosing. How many will decide against moving to Texas because it doesn’t offer their children the opportunity to attend the school that best suits their educational needs? Legislators should recognize this and enact ESAs, allowing all current and future Texans as many options as possible to get their children the education they need and deserve.

Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377-4000.