(Texas Scorecard) – As parental empowerment in education continues to make waves ahead of the 89th legislative session, evidence continues to pile up that it’s a political winner for lawmakers who support it.
This week, the Texas Public Policy held an event entitled “The Parental Empowerment Coalition,” highlighting several aspects of this discussion.
One panel, entitled “What do Texans think about school choice,” brought polling expert Michael Adams together with TPPF’s Richard Johnson and Shinara Morrison, a mother from East Texas turned parental empowerment advocate. The group discussed recent polling from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.
The poll, conducted in late June, discovered that increased educational options for parents drew majority support (frequently by lopsided margins) across nearly all demographic and political categories. The policy draws supermajority support from African Americans (70 percent+), Independents (60 percent+), Latinos (60 percent+), and Republicans (65 percent+). The only political demographic in which it didn’t draw majority support was white Democrats, although even there it drew 49 percent.
Perhaps most notably, a universal program draws significantly stronger support among Republicans (~20 points) and Independents (~10 points) than a program limited to lower incomes. Democrats, by contrast, prefer a low-income program by a small margin (~5 points).
The event closed with a discussion, titled “Closing the Deal,” with lawmakers Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park), Shawn Thierry (D-Houston), and James Frank (R-Wichita Falls). The group discussed the failure of school choice legislation in the Texas House in the 2023 session, the impact of said failure in the 2024 primary, and the impact of the primary heading into the 2025 session.
Cain shared that Republican House members who voted against parental empowerment “grossly miscalculated” and paid the price during the most recent primary. He also predicted that “there’s going to be new leadership” in the Texas House next session. This is noteworthy coming from Cain, as he has been a close ally of House Speaker Dade Phelan and former Speaker Dennis Bonnen in recent sessions.
For his part, Frank discussed how superintendents attempt to monopolize the attention of lawmakers. He encouraged parents to show similar zeal, because “there are a lot more parents than superintendents.” As an example, he cited his own rural district, which has 44 superintendents but tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of parents. Frank also highlighted how taxpayer-funded lobbying is often a glorified money-laundering scheme that leads to tax dollars being weaponized as campaign contributions.
The 89th Texas Legislature will convene on January 14, 2025.