Summary of Private School Voucher Bills Filed in the Texas House of Representatives...

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Summary of Private School Voucher Bills Filed in the Texas House of Representatives
H.B. 1263 by Reps. Linda Harper-Brown (R-Irving),
Ken Paxton (R-McKinney), and Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land); Co-Authors: Reps. Leo Berman (R-Tyler), Carl Isett (R-Lubbock), Jim Jackson (R-Carrollton), Jodie Laubenberg (R-Rockwall),
Jerry Madden (R-Plano), Larry Taylor (R-League City), Corbin Van Arsdale (R-Houston), William Zedler (R-Arlington)

Note: The bill authors do not represent school districts that would be required to participate in this voucher program.

8 School Districts, 886 Public Schools in Voucher Program:

Austin ISD, Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Houston ISD, San Antonio ISD, South San Antonio ISD, Masonic Home ISD
(Fort Worth), Edgewood ISD (San Antonio) would lose funding to pay for private school vouchers.
Estimated Number of Vouchers To Be Given Out: 2005-2006—25,492; 2006-2007—50,984; 2007-2008—76,476

Potential Funding That Could Be Siphoned from 8 School Districts: $530,511,000 for the first three years

Under the current tax structure, 72% would be local funding, 28% state funding.

Amount of Voucher: $6,937 in 2005, but would be higher in subsequent years.

Students Eligible for a Voucher: Every student in 8 districts meeting any one of the following criteria: does not pass any section of the TAKS test in grades 3-12, eligible for the free/reduced price lunch program, of limited English proficiency,eligible for special education, does not pass a readiness test in PreK-3rd grades, fails two subjects during a semester, is pregnant or a parent, placed in an alternative education program, has been expelled, is on parole or probation, is homeless.

Minimum Accountability, No Consequences: Private schools must administer the TAKS test or other nationally norm-referenced assessment instrument approved by the commissioner. The school must provide aggregated test results to the public and researchers. There are no consequences for poor academic performance, no school accountability ratings, no financial accountability, no cutoff of state funding for failing private schools.
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H.B. 12 by Reps. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio) and Debbie Riddle (R-Houston)
6 School Districts, 916 Public Schools in Voucher Program:
Austin ISD, Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Houston ISD, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (Houston), Northside ISD (San Antonio)would lose funding to pay for private school vouchers.

Estimated Number of Students Eligible for a Voucher in 2005-2006: 188,556
Estimated Funding That Could Be Siphoned from 6 School Districts: $3,300,361,866 in first three years

Under the current tax structure, 87% would be local funding, 13% state funding.

Amount of Voucher: $5,064-$6,352, with an average voucher amount of $5,755.

Students Eligible for a Voucher: A student in the 6 districts who was enrolled in a charter school or public school during the preceding school year or is enrolling in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, or first grade for the first time and:

-- Qualifies for the free or reduced price lunch program based on family size and income (ranging from $28,990 for a family of three to $52,522 for a family of seven); and
-- Failed to meet the standard on all sections of the most recent TAKS test (English version, Spanish version, or Special Education SDAA version); OR
-- Qualifies for the lunch program and is eligible under the state Public Education Grant public school choice program to attend another public school in the district in which the child resides or to receive a public education grant to attend a public school in another district, but has an application to attend another school district or school rejected.

Minimum Accountability, No Consequences: Private schools must administer the TAKS test or other assessment instrument approved by the commissioner. The commissioner would publish the school’s performance information and make it available to parents. There are no consequences for poor academic performance, no school accountability ratings, no financial accountability, no cutoff of state funding for failing private schools.
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H.B. 3042 by Reps. Debbie Riddle (R-Houston) and Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land)

Voucher program would include 1031 school districts and 215 charter school districts

Estimated Number of Students Eligible for a Voucher in 2005-2006: 4,300,000+

Estimated Funding That Could Be Siphoned from All School Districts: Billions!

Amount of Voucher: $5,500, to be adjusted yearly using the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers for Dallas and Houston for the preceding year

Students Eligible for a Voucher: A student is eligible to receive a voucher if he or she:
Resides in Texas, is eligible to attend public school, and attended a public school full time during the final semester of the preceding school year; OR

The child received a voucher during the preceding school year. (There is no requirement that this be a publicly-funded “voucher,” so it should be assumed that children currently attending a private school who received a privately-funded tuition voucher would be eligible.)

Minimum Accountability, No Consequences: Parents must ensure that the child is tested annually with a nationally recognized, norm-referenced assessment. There are no consequences for poor academic performance, no school accountability ratings, no financial accountability, no cutoff of state funding for failing private schools.

Source for Financial Information: Cindy M. Russell Consulting
Source for Data on Student Eligibility: Texas Education Agency