A newly released poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that Texas voters have much higher education priorities than private-school vouchers.
The UT poll asked voters to evaluate a list of public education priorities for the Legislature to address. “School safety” was respondents’ top priority (30% of respondents), followed by teacher pay and retention (19%), curriculum content (14%), and parental rights (12%). Just 7% of respondents said “vouchers, educational savings accounts (ESAs), or other ‘school choice’ legislation” should top the priority list when it comes to education.
The latest results mirror similar findings in an August UT poll. Still, legislators are currently convened in a special session that Governor Greg Abbott called in order to push ESAs, which would allow the state to subsidize private schools and home schools with public taxpayer revenue.
The Texas Senate has approved ESA legislation but the Texas House has not acted on it or any other ESA bill. We encourage you to click here to tell your local State Representative to reject ESAs and focus instead on supporting children and families in Texas public schools.
Read more about the latest UT-Austin/Texas Politics Project poll.
