CV NEWS FEED // Almost two-thirds of Texans support a proposal to start the state’s first Educational Savings Account (ESA) program to provide families with more educational options for their children, according to a February poll from Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research & Survey Center.
The Center Square reported that an ESA program open to all students is largely supported across racial demographics and most political partisanships. Sixty-nine percent of black respondents, 62% of white respondents, and 59% of Latino respondents approved of the program, while 78% of Republicans, 64% of Independents and 46% of Democrats supported it.
CatholicVote previously reported that the proposed ESA would be a “digital wallet” that allows parents “to use funds for tuition at any accredited school of their choice, as well as for other approved educational expenses, including homeschooling.”
In January, CatholicVote endorsed the ESA proposal, which is part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative for comprehensive school choice.
“Governor Greg Abbott is showing strong leadership by calling for school choice for every child in Texas,” CatholicVote Vice President Josh Mercer said at the time. “Imagine the difference to Catholic families if $10,500 per child was directed to the school that Catholic families want.”
CatholicVote reported that the program is funded by state revenue, which ensures “independence from federal funding and public school financing.” The program also includes independent audits “to ensure funds are being spent appropriately.”
According to the Center Square, an ESA pilot program would give $2,000 to homeschooled students, $10,000 for 100,000 students to attend the school of their choice, and more money for special needs students
Texans are reportedly less supportive of a limited ESA program that only allocates funds to lower income families, which are designated as families of four with an annual income of less than $50,000. Overall, 45% of respondents supported the initiative and 55% opposed it.
Minorities were more likely to support the limited ESA program, with 61% of black residents and 44% of Latinos approving of it. Political parties held similar views on the restricted ESA, with 50% of Republicans and 43% each of independents and Democrats supporting it.
The poll also found that Texans generally say they are not satisfied with the way their local K-12 public schools prepare students for college or for the workforce.
According to the Center Square, the poll was conducted “among 1,200 respondents with an oversampling of Black Texans. This was done to allow for ‘a much more detailed analysis of the opinions of Black Texans than is possible in a standard representative survey,’” the center said.
TSU’s research center added that it weighted the black Texan representation “so that their impact on the study population is proportionate to their share of the state’s population of registered voters.”
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