Protect Homeschool Families, Pass ESAs

Written By: Mandy Drogin

Moms and dads,

Right now, the Texas Legislature, and much of the energy in Austin, is focused on property taxes—but, make no mistake, we’re still out fighting for parent empowerment. Sometimes, parents like you send me emails that contain stories of themselves and their children—these stories help remind me why we fight for ESAs: it’s not just some academic and theoretical policy that our research has determined is the best course forward, but a policy that will have concrete and immediately appreciable impacts on us and our children.

A mom recently reached out to me with a heartbreaking story about her children’s journey through school. Concerned about safety, she pulled her kids out of public school and put them in private school—a great sacrifice for her family. But the sacrifice was worth it for the safety of her children. Sadly, at that school, they started getting bullied. It got so bad that she overheard her one of her kids praying at night not to “get called a loser” the next day at school—that was their final straw. Meetings with the school administration did nothing—a feeling many parents across the state are familiar with.

Since this mom and her family had already been making the sacrifice to pay for school, the solution was simple: take their money elsewhere. Her family switched schools and now her kids are much happier.

This is a power we want to ensure that every Texan has. Parents know their kids better than anyone else—so they should have the final say on where their kids go to school, because they know best where their kids would thrive. Even if you’re in a school district with good academics, your kids could need to change schools for other reasons, like bullying or unique education needs.

Of course, in recognizing that every child is unique and has their own individual needs, we also recognize that every school is unique and has its own individual strengths. That’s why, in the policies we fight for, autonomy is heavily protected by the law—from protecting the religious freedom of schools to ensuring that they maintain the acceptance and governance standards that protect the unique character of their school.

Luckily for Texas, 31 other states have some form of private school choice, and the legal protections have been litigated at every court level, including the Supreme Court. The law is clear, private schools do not have to change any of their standards or operations if they accept a parent’s choice to direct an ESA to a private school.

Of course, it’s easy to talk about the general principle—the devil is always in the details. Let me be clear: TPPF will not support any ESA proposals that do not adequately protect both the parents and schools that they choose.

Here are the key provisions of legal protections for private schools:

1. Any accredited school or college can/must opt-in to serve ESA students. No schools are forced to accept an ESA. What we have seen around the country is that many private schools do not accept ESAs for a few years.  They watch to be careful and ensure that they will be protected.  Many private schools then begin accepting them after seeing how they work.  Some private schools want to maintain their exclusivity and never accept the ESAs, and that’s fine, too.  Again, no schools are forced to accept ESAs.

2. Texas families can/must opt-in and apply for an ESA. The program is 100% opt-in. There is no requirement to participate. The independence of participants will be protected by the ESA law.

Private schools and homeschooling families will have these legal protections:

1. There shall be no legal requirement to modify their creed, practices, admissions policies, curriculum, performance standards, employment policies, or assessments.

• Schools will not be required to change or modify their admissions process.

• Some private schools that require daily religious courses or practices as a part of their practices or curriculum, will not be required to remove or alter these practices. So, a parent who does not want their child participating in religious courses would know upfront that it’s a requirement of students and their child would be expected to participate.

2. There shall be no limit on the exercise of religious or institutional values, and no obligation to act contrary to these values can be imposed.

3. No federal funds can be used for the program, preventing any federal strings from being attached.

4. If families or schools bring a legal challenge to any program rule because it violates these legal protections, the burden of proof is on the program administrator to prove that the rule:

• does not violate the legal protections or impose an undue burden on families or schools.

• is the least restrictive way to operate the program.

All of these legal protections were in the legislation we are supporting and that was passed out of the Senate earlier this year.

There are plenty of other details about the Education Savings Accounts at our TXParentsMatter.com website in the  “Solutions” section.

ESAs are designed to empower parents that are unhappy with their government dictated school. We have witnessed the failure of too many schools across Texas whether it’s the low quality, indoctrination with leftist ideologies, hyper-sexualization in programs and library books, bullying problems, and the list goes on.  ESAs provide the mechanism for an immediate exit strategy for parents whose children are suffering in their assigned school, and the parents are willing to make sacrifices to ensure their child can have access to an education that’s in line with their needs. As long as the majority of parents can’t afford to send their children elsewhere, public school administrators and unions that have been captured by leftist ideology will continue to do what they’re doing now—declining standards, sexualization of children through library books and curriculum, indoctrinating with progressive ideology, and more.

Parental choice forces the schools to listen and lifts everyone up: private schools, charter schools, home schoolers, and (perhaps more than anyone else) public schools.

TPPF has supported parental choice for well over 30 years. We will never give up the fight. Luckily for us, and for millions of Texas parents, this year, the odds are on our side thanks to the amazing leadership of Governor Abbott and many others across the state.

This year, Texas will empower parents.

And the whole nation will benefit.