Gender lesson ban, private school tuition in Texas Senate bill

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Lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation would be banned in Texas classrooms under a sweeping education bill introduced in the Texas Senate on Friday that also would allow parents to use taxpayer money for private schools.

Senate Bill 8, according to a news release from the bill’s primary sponsor, would allow parents to use up to $8,000 in taxpayer money, per student, to pay for private schooling through an educational savings account.

Rural lawmakers have historically opposed similar legislation, arguing that it siphons off money from public schools, often an anchor of rural communities. But this year’s bill carves out smaller districts, leaving school districts with fewer than 20,000 students fully funded. Texas schools receive a base allotment of $6,160 per student each year.

The legislation also seeks to ban teaching on “gender identity” and “sexual orientation,” mirroring a highly controversial law in Florida. The Texas bill would appear to go further, banning such lessons in every grade. School-choice proponents have routinely cited teaching on sexual orientation and gender as a key justification for pulling their kids — and tax dollars — from public schools. The new bill would allow them to do so while also banning such teachings.

Parents also would need to be notified of “any changes” to their child’s mental, emotional or physical health.

An accompanying piece of legislation, Senate Bill 9, would also give “across the board” pay raises to teachers; increase funding for classrooms; establish and fund mentor and teacher residency programs; and give free pre-K education for the children of classroom teachers in districts where it is provided, according to the news release from the bill’s author.

Drafts of the legislation, which were announced shortly before a critical bill filing deadline Friday afternoon, were not immediately available online.

In a statement, the bills’ author, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, framed the legislation as a compromise between “parents, educators, employers and students.”

“Educating the next generation of Texans is the most fundamental responsibility we have, and I authored Senate Bill 8 to place parents, not government, squarely in the center of the decisions for their children,” he said. “Giving parents the power to determine the best school for their child will encourage competition and innovation, ensuring that each Texas student has the opportunity to succeed.”

On Friday, Creighton also requested an expedited opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on whether his bill, specifically its educational savings accounts provision, would run afoul of the Texas Constitution because it would divert public funds to private religious schools. Citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Creighton questioned whether the related Texas constitutional provisions, known as the Blair Amendments, were “likewise unconstitutional.”

Both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the state Senate, and Gov. Greg Abbott have made “school choice” a priority this session, with the latter naming it an emergency item for this legislative session and calling on lawmakers to enact education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would give parents who remove their children from the public education system state money to pay for educational expenses, like private school tuition, online schooling or private tutors.

Abbott has appeared at several private schools across the state advocating for education savings accounts.

“That will give all parents the ability to choose the best education option for their child,” he said during a parental rights event in Corpus Christi last month, where he announced his support for such a program. “The bottom line is this: This is really about freedom.”

Despite Patrick and Abbott supporting taxpayer-funded private school scholarships, portions of the bill’s future are precarious. House Democrats and their rural Republican peers have historically blocked legislation that would siphon any money away from rural schools. It is unclear whether the extra funding for rural schools in the bill would be enough to win support in the lower chamber this year.

Pooja Salhotra and Brian Lopez contributed.

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