Latest poll shows most Texans support school choice

HOUSTON - The latest poll from Texas Southern's Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center shows nearly two-thirds of Texans support using taxpayer dollars for private education.

By the numbers:

The poll, conducted during the first part of February, asked 1,200 registered voters about issues like public school safety, how prepared for college they felt students were when they left public school and how they felt about using public funds to set up savings accounts for all parents and then just for families of four that have an income of less than $50,000.

Pollsters asked the following question about the accounts:

"An ‘education savings account’, or ‘ESA’, in K-12 education establishes a state government-funded bank account for parents who opt to not send their children to public schools, with restricted, but multiple uses for educational purposes.  Recent proposals would provide parents who opt out of the public school system up to $10,000 per student each year which would otherwise be allocated to a school district. Acceptable uses include paying for private school tuition, online education programs, and therapies for students with special needs. Do you support or oppose the adoption of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in Texas for:
All parents.
Only lower income parents (family of four with an income less than $50,000)."

The poll showed 63% of Texans asked supported a universal ESA regardless of income, while only 45% supported ESAs that were restricted to low-income families.

"There do not exist any noteworthy ethnic/racial differences in support for universal ESA legislation benefiting all parents," the study states. "However, Black Texans (61%) are significantly more likely than both Latino (44%) and white (42%) Texans to support ESA legislation which would restrict ESA access to low-income parents."

The poll did find that 70% of men supported universal ESAs compared to 56% of women.

READ MORE: Texas House has enough votes to pass a school choice bill, Gov. Greg Abbott says

In age brackets, 68% of Texans who are 55 or older supported universal ESAs compared to 55% of Texans under 35. Texans aged 35-54 supported universal ESA at 60%.

Arguments for and against ESAs

The poll asked those same respondents if arguments for or against ESAs were persuasive.

They gave five options for arguments against the program:

• ESAs/Vouchers use tax dollars to subsize religious schools, which violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
• ESAs/Vouchers funnel money away from already-struggling public schools.
• ESAs/Vouchers fail to accommodate disabled and special-needs students, who public schools are required to accept, while private schools are not.
• ESAs/Vouchers provide funding to private schools and individuals with only limited accountability for how the funds are used.
• ESAs/Vouchers benefit wealthy parents whose children already attend private schools.
• None of these arguments are persuasive.

The study found that 40% of those who answered did not find any arguments against school choice to be persuasive.

Of the other options, 27% of people were concerned about taking money away from struggling school districts. Less than 10% of those who responded chose the others.

The survey then provided five options for persuasive arguments for school choice:

• ESAs/Vouchers allow parents to choose the school that best meets their child’s educational needs.
• ESAs/Vouchers improve education overall by making public schools compete with private schools for students.
• ESAs/Vouchers offer low-income students in areas with failing schools access to a better education.
• ESAs/Vouchers help students escape schools where bullying or gang-related violence is common.
• ESAs/Vouchers allow parents to choose the school that best reflects their values.
• None of these arguments are persuasive.

Around 32% said they found none of the answers persuasive. Those who did find an argument persuasive were mostly split between a school that meets the child's educational needs (20%) and providing kids in failing schools access to better education (19%).

Big picture view:

The poll results are just a few points lower than a poll conducted by the University of Houston in January.

The backstory:

Two competing bills are currently sitting in the Texas House awaiting debate. The Senate passed it's version of the bill early in the session and it was sent to the House for debate.

A second bill from the House is similar to the Senate's bill with a few differences.

House Bill 3 is similar to Senate Bill 2 in that both bills would require a $1 billion investment from the state to establish the accounts.

Under both bills, families chosen for the program would be allowed to use the funds on private school tuition, textbooks, transportation and other education expenses.

READ MORE: Texas Senate passes SB2, would allow parents to use tax funds for private schools

The bills start to move away from each other when it comes to who is considered for the accounts and how much each student would receive.

While Senate Bill 2 would add a flat $10,000 to a student's savings account, the House version sets the number at "85 percent of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance for the applicable school year."

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