The FFRF Action Fund strongly condemns Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature approving one of the country’s most sweeping and expensive taxpayer-funded private school voucher schemes.
Senate Bill 2 — an alarming $1 billion private school voucher plan that cleared, mostly along party lines, the Texas Legislature — represents a historic and troubling move to undermine Texas’ public education system. It diverts taxpayer funds into private, predominantly religious schools. Despite six prior failed attempts to push through similar voucher schemes, Abbott and his legislative allies remained relentless. Their goal is clear: to siphon off public education dollars, regardless of how deeply unpopular these proposals are with Texans, and redirect those tax dollars to private religious education. In a telling moment, House Democrats introduced an amendment to let voters decide the fate of SB 2 — reflecting public opposition to vouchers — but that effort was ultimately defeated.
Regardless of the rhetoric, this voucher scheme offers little real benefit to low-income students — contrary to what its backers claim. While it promises up to $10,500 per student, private school tuition in parts of Texas can soar as high as $31,000. And historically, when voucher programs roll out, private schools tend to raise their tuition in response, keeping quality education out of reach for the very families this policy supposedly helps.
Another persistent falsehood deserves to be called out: This isn’t about “school choice.” Lawmakers pushing vouchers under the banner of expanded options are deliberately misleading the public. The reality is that vouchers don’t create meaningful choice for most students. Nearly 60 percent of Texas counties don’t even have a private school. This scheme offers families in those areas nothing but a financial hit to their public schools. Instead of broadening opportunity, this bill siphons money away from public education and forces taxpayers of all faiths and none to underwrite religious instruction — since the vast majority of Texas’ private schools are religious institutions.
To make matters worse, these private schools won’t be held to state curriculum standards, won’t have to adequately track student academic performance, and won’t be required to admit all students. That gives them free rein to teach anything — from creationism to climate change denial — with virtually no oversight. Even more troubling, they can openly discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation or other criteria that conflict with their religious ideology. Handing over public dollars to schools that operate outside the rules of accountable, inclusive education will cause lasting damage to Texas public school students.
This $1 billion black hole is set to expand drastically to an estimated $4.5 billion annually by 2030. At a time when Texas schools desperately need investments, lawmakers are choosing to subsidize private education for families who can already afford it — or those willing to accept religious instruction — rather than supporting the vast majority of Texas children who rely on public schools.
“Gov. Abbott has once again decided to force his personal religious agenda onto the people of Texas,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Voucher schemes like this one are the biggest threat to our public, secular education system — the bedrock of our democracy.”
The Action Fund wholeheartedly believes that public dollars should fund public education, not private religious schooling, because where public funding goes, public accountability ought to follow. Texans deserve better than a privatization scheme masquerading as educational equity.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.