Poll: Most Texans oppose school vouchers
More than 50 percent of likely voters say they’re against programs that would hurt funding for their local public schools
Prepping for a war over private school vouchers in Texas, public school advocates are out with a new poll that shows the majority of likely voters oppose voucher programs that would hurt funding for public schools, and the opposition is deep in rural Texas.
The poll released Tuesday showed 53 percent of likely Texas voters are against taxpayerfunded private school vouchers when hearing vouchers mean less money for their local public schools. And 71 percent of voters in rural areas said vouchers wouldn’t do anything to help them.
The poll was conducted between May 3 and May 6, before Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was prepared to make a new aggressive push for a school voucher program in Texas.
“These poll results show that Texas parents support their public schools, have confidence in their teachers and are demanding investment in all of our students’ education,” said Julie Cowan, co-chair of Texas Parent PAC, which opposes private school voucher programs. “They do not support a blank check for private school voucher giveaways and charter school CEOs.”
The results come just over a week after Abbott declared in San Antonio that he was ready to make another run at passing a private school voucher plan that he insists won’t take money from public schools — a claim critics have questioned.
“Empowering parents means giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school or private school with state funding following the student,” Abbott said at a rally on the South Side of San Antonio last week.
It’s the most vocal Abbott has been in supporting sending public funding to private schools. But even he seemed to telegraph how hard of a fight he’s heading into in rural Texas. The next day he went on conservative radio programs popular in rural West Texas and the Panhandle to stress that he won’t take money away from public schools in those regions, where private and charter school options are rare.
Pressed for details on how public schools would be left whole if some students left during an interview on The Chad Hasty Show on KFYO in Lubbock, Abbott said the Texas Legislature needs to “hammer it out.”
The Legislature next meets in a regular session in January 2023.
The poll released Tuesday is from Change Research, a San Francisco-based firm. The poll surveyed 1,083 likely Texas voters. It had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
“Texas parents want to be absolutely clear to Gov. Greg Abbott and every politician in office — don’t mess with our public schools,” said Dinah Miller, another co-chair of Texas Parent PAC.
But pro-voucher groups say primary election results paint a different picture.
In the March 1 primary, Republican voters were presented a nonbinding question previewing the school voucher fight. About 88 percent of GOP voters said yes to: “Texas parents and guardians should have the right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.”