With More Pro-Voucher Republicans Elected, What’s Next in the Fight Over School Vouchers

Pro-vouchers Republicans may have enough votes to implement the system (art by Zeke Barbaro / Getty Images)

One of the most pleasant memories from last year’s legislative session – one of few pleasant memories – was the déjà vu death of school vouchers.

You will recall that Gov. Greg Abbott demanded throughout the session that Texas adopt what he calls school choice – aka vouchers – which would allow parents to withdraw money from the public school system to spend on tuition for private, often religious, schools. The scheme is being pushed by Republicans across the country to undermine public education. It’s also the top priority of the Christian Nationalist backers of the Texas Republican Party and is loudly supported not just by Abbott but by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and most Republicans in the Legislature.

However, vouchers have never been popular among actual Texas voters, even conservative ones. A poll conducted in April found that after two years of relentless pro-voucher messaging from Abbott et al., 57% of likely Texas voters continue to oppose vouchers. That includes 43% of Republicans and 57% of voters overall in rural counties, who generally elect Republican candidates.

About two dozen of these Republican officeholders joined Democrats to shoot vouchers down in a series of votes last year. After the final rejection, Abbott declared war on the anti-voucher R’s, funding challengers that knocked off nine of 16 running in the March primary. In May, another three went down in runoffs. It was enough for Abbott to declare that “the Texas Legislature now has enough votes to pass school choice.”

However, as Democrats emphasized at their statewide convention in June, that assertion overlooks one detail: the November election. At the convention, Dems hammered Republicans’ promise to pass vouchers, saying the issue could help them flip enough seats to defeat the proposal again in the 2025 session. Austin Rep. Gina Hinojosa, recently elected chair of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, calculated that the party only needs to flip three seats. And she noted a particular quality that the most promising candidates possess.

“It is Texas women, by and large, who are running to flip seats in the Texas House,” Hinojosa said. “To name a few: Kristian Carranza and Laurel Jordan Swift in San Antonio, and Averie Bishop and Elizabeth Ginsberg in Dallas. Joe Biden either won these districts or almost won these districts in 2020. San Antonio and Dallas, you are the battlefront in our fight for the Texas House.”

Jennie Birkholz is another Dem shouted out by Hinojosa during her speech. Birkholz, a health care consultant and mother of two in Round Rock ISD, is challenging Republican Rep. Caroline Harris Davila for House District 52. “She voted for vouchers,” Birkholz said of Davila. “She went on Fox News and said that passing school choice is her priority for the next session. She is married to Dan Patrick’s chief of staff, so we call her Dan Patrick’s state rep.”

Birkholz told us that District 52 is considered the only flippable seat in Central Texas. She said she has hosted events to educate voters about vouchers but that most are already familiar with the issue – and they mostly oppose it. “It is a very hot topic here, and it’s not just progressives,” Birkholz said. “It’s a shared value across both conservatives and liberals, and that’s the way that I like to talk about it. This isn’t about parties. This is about shared values.”

Rep. James Talarico represented about half of District 52 before Republicans gerrymandered it in 2020. He believes that Birkholz and other progressives across the state have good chances to pick up seats in November, especially if they talk about vouchers.

“Greg Abbott and his billionaire megadonors are trying to destroy our neighborhood public schools,” Talarico said. “This is the greatest threat we’ve ever faced against public education in the state. So, yes, I think this is going to be a top issue in these districts that we need to win in November.”