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Conservatives across the state have been celebrating Governor Abbott’s signing of Senate Bill 2, Texas’s so-called "universal" school choice law. But as it turns out, this may not be the major victory that Texans think it is.
For starters, while it’s been called a "universal school choice" law, that’s not really the case. Education policy analyst Carole Haynes said, "It’s going to be a lottery system. Maybe 100,000 children will be able to participate. But there are very strict requirements as to who can."
Haynes also pointed out that this could simply be opening the door to more government control and said that it could come back to haunt Texans later. She asked, "How long is it going to be before they overrule what that bill says today and they start bringing in DEI and critical race theory? It’s a trap out there."
While some might say that SB-2 is a good starting point for true school choice and can be improved upon later, Haynes disagreed, saying, "I don’t see any hope for the bill to really get any better. Hopefully, they’re going to try to do something about it, but it’s going to be a tough fight to make it any better because there are so many restrictions in it to start with."