The Legislature’s Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize and Privatize Public Schools
Lawmakers Undermine Public Schools – We Pushed Back
The 89th Texas Legislative session has wrapped up, and certain lawmakers spent those 140 days doing what we call the “Texas Three Step:” defunding public schools; demonizing them by attacking educators and what students can learn; and privatizing public education through private school vouchers.
Despite a litany of attacks, IDRA and our partners stood strong in the face of billionaire-backed campaigns to harm students’ freedom to learn and ram through vouchers against most Texans’ wishes.
We advocated alongside San Antonio educators who had lived through failed local voucher experiments and shared their stories on why vouchers hurt our communities most.
IDRA defended Dreamers to stop bills to repeal the Texas Dream Act that would have denied access to college for millions of Texan students.
We coordinated advocacy days to rally students, parents and advocates to demand increased protection for students who are bullied, more funding for schools, and more supportive school climates. We also saw an increase in the bilingual education weight pass the Texas House for the first time since Texas established the weight in 1981, although it was removed from the final bill.
I am deeply honored to work with our relentless Texas policy team: Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., and our two stellar IDRA Education Policy Fellows: Kaci Wright, M.Ed, and Vivek Datla, MPA.
And we are proud of the countless courageous students, families, educators and advocates who showed up at the Capitol, called their legislators, and spoke up for a future Texas where all students attend well-resourced schools.
IDRA will continue to advocate strong policies, publish research, and fight for students’ civil rights to ensure every student, without exception, can succeed and thrive in school.
With gratitude,
Celina Moreno, J.D.
Policies that Privatize Our Public Schools
Senate Bill 2 is the multi-billion-dollar private school voucher bill that Governor Abbott has signed into law. Despite years of diverse coalitions pushing against privatizing Texas’ education system, SB 2 creates the state’s first universal school voucher program. Families with a voucher will receive over $10,000 to use at a private school.
The state estimates that up to 95% of participating students will already be in private school or homeschooled, which means Texas is creating a coupon for the wealthiest few. Check out our infographic below for details on the program.
Positive Public School Investments and Changes to School Funding Policies
House Bill 2, the state’s priority school funding legislation raises the basic allotment by $55 for two years and allocates $4.2 billion in increases for teacher pay and pathways. The limited $55 increase to the basic allotment falls far short of the $1,300 per student increase needed to account for inflation since 2019.
The bill also changes the way special education is funded and adds an additional $850 million to the special education allotment. HB 2 is headed to the Governor’s desk now.
A Big Step Backwards for School Discipline
HB 6 is a school discipline bill that rewrites years of discipline policy. With this bill, schools can more easily remove or suspend young children over minor classroom offenses.
Though partners and allies worked hard to successfully stop some of the worst components of the bill, the final version of HB 6 that will become law encourages the use of harsh, harmful discipline practices that will lead to students who are Black, Latino or with disabilities being overly punished. HB 6 is pending the Governor’s signature.
Protecting the Texas Dream Act
Some legislators ramped up their attacks against immigrant students throughout the session. SB 1798 and HB 232 attempted to repeal the longstanding and bipartisan Texas Dream Act.
Texas passed the Dream Act in 2001 to allow tuition rate equity for all eligible students graduating from Texas high schools, regardless of their immigration status.
This session, legislators considered a bill that would have eliminated access to in-state tuition and state aid for undocumented students in Texas, impacting millions of immigrant students and weakening Texas’ commitment to education for all students. Thankfully, due to the voices of hundreds of Dreamers, business leaders, and community members who traveled to the Capitol to testify, the bill failed to pass.
Harmful Expansions of Classroom Censorship & Anti-DEI Legislation
SB 12 is a broad ban against diversity, equity and inclusion in public schools. It prohibits public schools from considering race, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in their policies, procedures, trainings or programs, with narrow exceptions. It also imposes discipline procedures against employees who are considered out of compliance.
No matter our color, background, or zip code, IDRA believes all children should receive an education that imparts honesty about who we are, integrity in how we treat others, and courage to do what is right. All students deserve an education where they can thrive and feel safe and included.
SB 37 creates a new state-level committee that shifts decisions about what is taught in university classrooms away from professors and academic leaders and gives it to university boards of regents.
This bill will create a chilling effect across university campuses. It could limit the types of courses students can take and potentially even govern conversations that students can have especially around complex, real-world topics related to race, identity and inequality.
The Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC) and university partners spoke out at committee hearings and news conferences to alert the public to this harmful legislation.
SB 13 permits school districts to adopt policies and assemble local school library advisory councils to make recommendations on restricting books that students want to read. When students are denied access to books, they are denied the opportunity to learn valuable lessons about themselves and people who are different.
The legislature passed these three bills and sent them to the Governor to sign them into law.
Compromising Students’ Religious Freedom
SB 10 and SB 11 compromise students’ religious freedom and blur the line between separation of church and state. SB 10 mandates the posting of a particular version of the Ten Commandments on display in all Texas classrooms if a specified poster is donated.
SB 11 allows school districts to adopt policies that permit specific time for prayer in schools over the Bible or other religious texts. Policies must require parent consent and cannot allow prayer time to take place during instructional hours. Both bills have passed and been sent to the Governor.
To learn more about our policy agenda, please contact IDRA’s Deputy Director of Policy, Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., at chloe.sikes@idra.org.
