A strong majority of Texans favor school choice legislation, with the most significant support coming from black residents, according to a new poll.
The poll found that 65% of Texans backed proposals to establish school choice programs, which would allow parents to use taxpayer money to defray the costs of homeschooling or private school.
Another 69% of respondents specifically said they support legislation to create educational savings accounts (ESAs) for all families. The Texas Senate advanced ESAs as a school choice mechanism last legislative session.
Support for school choice decreased to 59% in the poll if it exclusively targeted low-income families, and support for ESAs declined to 64% when only targeting low-income families.
Black Texans expressed the strongest support for school choice initiatives in the poll.
Some 70% of black respondents backed legislation establishing school choice for all parents, trumping 64% support from Latinos and 63% from whites. Black support expanded to 72% when the school choice programs applied only to low-income families, while Latino support increased to 65%, and white support decreased to 52%.
This strong support from black Texans applied across political affiliations.
Some 81% of black Republicans, 76% of black Independents, and 66% of black Democrats supported school choice for all families.
Irrespective of race, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats in the poll to support school choice programs for all parents at 73% compared to 55%. Democrats expressed more support than Republicans for school choice programs applied exclusively to low-income families at 60% compared to 57%.
The poll was conducted by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston and the Executive Master of Public Administration Program in the Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University.
Gov. Greg Abbott pushed the state legislature to pass school choice in 2023, but Democrats and some Republicans in the House sabotaged the initiative in the regular session and four subsequent special sessions.
Abbott supported primary challenges to House Republicans who voted against school choice, a move that largely proved successful as 9 of the 13 lawmakers lost to pro-school choice candidates, as previously reported by DX. The governor said the primary election results mean the legislature has the votes to pass school choice next year.
“While we did not win every race we fought in, the overall message from this year’s primaries is clear: Texans want school choice. Opponents of school choice can no longer ignore the will of the people,” Abbott said, according to NBC 5 DFW.
Members of Dallas ISD’s board of trustees worked in unison behind the scenes to spike school choice initiatives at the statehouse, according to internal documents previously reported on by DX.
Dallas ISD has been seeing declining enrollment and clocking lackluster student achievement outcomes for years, with only 41% of Dallas ISD students scoring at grade level on the STAAR in the 2021-2022 school year. Moreover, nearly 20% of the graduating Class of 2022 did not obtain a diploma within four years despite the hard work of the district’s dedicated teachers and principals.