LINDALE, Texas — Results have come in from Super Tuesday, and the outcome could have an impact on education in Texas, specifically the issue of school vouchers.
"Only so many tax funds available, and they’re going to take a part of that and give it to private schools. And what’s really happening, the big push is they want to get funding to those wealthy families that are already in private schools. A lot of states are. Texas is just kind of following a lot of other states," Lindale ISD Superintendent Stan Surratt said.
According to San Antonio Express News, at least a dozen incumbent House lawmakers in Texas were unseated and replaced by supporters of the private school voucher bill.
They were helped by Gov. Greg Abbott, who spent more than $6 million endorsing candidates across 15 different local races, all of which were pro-voucher candidates.
The issue of school vouchers is one that people are passionate about. Folks typically have strong opinions either for or against, but some research done in Texas points to the idea that the way the issue is framed greatly contributes to the way people feel about it.
"In a poll we did last fall where we asked two versions of the question, one that introduced some very mild tradeoffs in terms of just mentioning that the money for these kinds of programs would come from public funds, and one that didn’t," Director of the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin Dr. James Henson said.
The data from that poll shows when voters were asked about a “school choice” program, the majority responded positively. But once you mention redirecting tax revenue to help parents pay for private school, the results change drastically.
Either way Super Tuesday was a big win for Abbott and his voucher program, though it’s still not a sure thing that it’ll go through.
"I wouldn’t necessarily say at this point that this guarantees that we will see some kind of school choice program succeed in the legislature. But certainly given what we’ve seen so far, the odds of the legislature being able to push through some kind of a school choice or education savings account program have gotten better," Henson said.