Following months of contentious debate in the Texas Legislature last year, about two-thirds of the state's residents now say they favor some proposals allowing parents to use taxpayer money to pay private school tuition. None of the proposals were approved last year, but Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to try again in 2025.
Support for vouchers and educational savings accounts held steady across racial and partisan lines, although it is highest among Black Texans and Republicans, particularly so among Black and Latino Republicans. Almost three out of four Black Texans support proposals aimed at low-income families, while their support for proposals open to all families is only a few points lower.
Younger Texans, those earning $30,000 a year or less, those with children under 18 and those who describe themselves as born-again Christians also strongly back the proposals.
Overall, about two-thirds of Texans expressed support for the plans.
The survey, 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, asked adult Texans about vouchers and educational savings accounts, as well as about common arguments for and against the proposals.
Jim Granato, dean and professor at the Hobby School, noted that support has risen since researchers asked the question in October. At that point, about 49% of Texans supported publicly funded vouchers.
"There is across-the-board support, not only across racial and partisan lines, but among urban, suburban and rural voters," Granato said. "Rural residents, and the legislators who represent them, have traditionally joined with urban Democrats to oppose voucher proposals, but we found 63% of respondents in rural and semi-rural areas support vouchers open to all families, along with 64% of suburban residents and 67% of urban residents."
In general, Granato said, Texans are more likely to support proposals that would make vouchers and similar programs available to all families, rather than those limited to low-income families, although the reverse was true for Black voters. "I think the major takeaway is that we are seeing an ongoing shift in attitudes about these programs," he said.
Despite strong support overall, Mark P. Jones, political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and senior research fellow at the Hobby School, said researchers found notable demographic differences. Support for vouchers open to all families is significantly higher among Black Democrats, at 66%, than among white Democrats, at 49% and among Republicans overall (73%) than among Democrats overall (55%).
"Many supporters view the proposals as giving parents more control over their children's education and as allowing children to attend better-performing schools," Jones said. "Even people who are satisfied with their local public schools strongly support these proposals." About half of Texans said they are satisfied with their local school district, while 29% are dissatisfied, he said. Just over half, or 51%, of white and Black residents, rate their schools as satisfactory, along with 47% of Latino residents.
Support was similarly unchanged by the fact that most respondents say the programs violate constitutional protections for the separation of church and state, as well as concerns about taking funding away from the public schools. "People also agree with concerns about using public money for private schools with limited accountability and which may fail to accommodate special needs students," said Michael O. Adams, director of the Executive Master of Public Administration graduate program at TSU.
Black Texans are more likely than Latinos and white residents to agree with those concerns, Adams said, noting that 72% of Black residents are concerned about the lack of accountability for public funds and 70% say the programs would draw money from public schools. "Despite that, Black residents are supportive of these programs that could offer an alternative for some families, with 79% saying they offer a better chance at a quality education for children in failing public schools," he said.
Among the other findings:
- Among the one-third of Texans who strongly support school voucher legislation, 50% agree with the anti-voucher arguments that they funnel money away from struggling public schools and provide for only limited accountability of how the funds are used by private schools.
- Partisan support varied widely by race and ethnicity: 49% of white Democrats support a voucher program for all families, compared with 55% of Latino Democrats and 66% of Black Democrats. 73% of white Republicans support a program benefitting all families, compared with 75% of Latino Republicans and 81% of Black Republicans.
- 75% of born-again Christians support vouchers for all families, while 64% support a program for low-income families. That compares to 62% and 52% respectively for people from other Protestant denominations and 55% and 56% of Catholics.
The full report is available on the Hobby School website.
The survey was conducted in English and Spanish between June 20 and July 1, with 2,257 YouGov respondents 18 years of age and older. The margin of error is +/-2.1. An earlier report looked the attitudes of Texas voters regarding the 2024 presidential race and the race for U.S. Senate. A future report will look at housing, immigration and climate challenges.
