College Station ISD responds to survey showing growing Texan support for school vouchers

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs recently published a survey on voter’s attitudes toward school voucher legislation. It shows more Texans are now in favor, but College Station ISD officials remain on the opposite side of the equation.

This study follows multiple failed attempts last year by the Texas legislature to pass a voucher bill.

School vouchers shift tax dollars previously allocated for public schools to parents as a way to offset tuition costs of private schools.

According to the survey, around two-thirds of Texans support creating school vouchers, also referred to as educational savings accounts (ESA). However, when discussing vouchers for only low-income families, the number drops to around 60%.

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There are further breakdowns of results between categories like race, generation, and political affiliation within the study.

Despite this, more than half of participants reported agreeing with certain arguments against vouchers.

One of those arguments, that school vouchers or ESAs ‘funnel money away from already struggling public schools,’ saw 66% of Texans agree with the statement.

Mark Jones, one of the research fellows involved with the survey, chalks this result in part up to growing public knowledge.

“They recognize that there are significant problems or at least potential problems with vouchers. In balance, they believe that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses,” Jones said.

According to Jones, the results could signal an uphill battle at the polls for those who are against vouchers. He said this can look like school districts organizing an ‘education campaign to engage and convince residents of their district.’

That can be seen locally as College Station ISD officials work to highlight its contributions to the public school students it serves.

“There’s a lot of things that we’re being able to provide kids, and I don’t want vouchers to get in the way and us having to remove programs and things like that to make budgets balanced,” explained College Station ISD Chief Financial Officer Heather Wilson.

Uncertain is how Wilson described the potential impact of vouchers, especially as public opinion shifts more in favor of vouchers.

Despite extensive efforts in short and long-term planning in areas like budget, expected number of students and staffing, Wilson said vouchers passing could disrupt much of it.

It leaves the district in a potentially precarious position for the future.

“It’s going to get a lot harder to plan budgets. It’s going to get a lot harder to estimate staffing and enrollment because there is going to be a lot of uncertainty behind it. But all in all, public ed is going to step up,” Wilson asserted.

As the 2024 general election inches closer, Jones said the survey results send an important message to legislators.

“I think it just underscores that in the 2025 legislative session we will see some type of school voucher legislation or educational savings account legislation passed,” added Jones.