by (in alphabetical order) John Garrett Clawson, Cassie Davis, Reynaldo De La Garza, Katie Floyd , Sarah Pollock

Supervisor: Paul von Hippel

Started: September 6, 2016. Last updated: November 8, 2016

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ESAs share several programmatic characteristics with school voucher program. The primary distinction is that vouchers can only be used for tuition, while ESAs can be used for a variety of educational expenses. Another distinction is that vouchers transfer tuition from the government to the student's chosen school, while ESA funds are controlled by parents through a government-funded debit card. Consequently, many of those that support the school voucher concept support ESA initiatives as well. Those that oppose such voucher proposals are also likely to reject ESA programs. 

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Parents who register for the proposed program would receive a debit card with funds that may be applied to educational expenses. The office of the Texas Commissioner would be in charge of establishing and managing funds to be distributed for approved educational-related expenses for eligible students. The debit card would be funded with 80% of the amount that would have been allocated to the student in the school district he/she would have otherwise attended. Students with disabilities or “educational disadvantages” would receive the full amount (100%) that would have been allocated to the school district that they would have otherwise attended. A third party would assess applications to determine the level of funding for which each student was eligible. The amount allocated per student is similar to the amount allocated by ESA programs in other states. For example, Arizona allocates 90% of the amount that would have gone to a public school for a given student (FN SB 1363, 2013), Nevada allocates up to 90% (SB 302, 2015), Tennessee allocates 100% (SB 431, 2015), and Florida and Mississippi allocate fixed amounts ($9,000 and $6,500) that are comparable to those states' per student public education spending (Florida SB 850, 2014; Mississippi SB 2695, 2015; the Misssippi Mississippi amount is legislated to increase with per pupil public school spending).

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A summary of the evidence on vouchers will be given on a forthcoming page.

References

Burke, Lindsay. "The Education Debit Card: What Arizona Parents Purchase With Education Savings Accounts." EdChoice. August, 2013. Accessed November 11, 2016. https://www.edchoice.org/research/the-education-debit-card/

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Sandra Chereb. “Nevada Supreme Court Strikes Down School Choice Funding Method.” Las Vegas Review-Journal. September 29, 2016.

S.B. 1178, Texas 84th Cong. (2015).

S.B. 1363 Fiscal Note, Arizona 51st Cong. Schimpp, Steve. (2013).

S.B. 2695, Mississippi 114th Cong. (2015).

S.B. 302, Nevada 302nd Cong. (2015).

S.B. 431, Tennessee 431st Cong. (2015).

S.N. 850, Florida 116th Cong. (2014).