Texas Catholic Voice Jan. 27, 2025

Parental Choice

On Friday, Jan. 24, Sen. Creighton filed SB 2, establishing an Education Savings Account program. The hearing will be on Tuesday, Jan. 28. The TCCB supports SB 2; we are pleased to see improvements have been made to last session’s bill. SB 2 has strong religious liberty protections and accountability through accreditation and norm-referenced testing. The bill’s prioritization of applicants is improved over last session’s bill. 

Key elements include the following: 

Eligibility 

• 80% of available positions for children in public school or entering pre-K or Kindergarten   
• 20% of available positions for children in public, private or home school entering pre-K or Kindergarten 

Prioritization

• If the number of applications to the program does not exceed the number of program spots available, all eligible applicants will be accepted into the program.  

• If the number of applications exceeds the number of program spots available, acceptance into the program will be determined by lottery as follows: 

• • 80% of available ESAs reserved for students who have previously attended public school; and either are a member of a low-income household or have a disability 
  • Remaining 20% of available ESAs for all other students 

ESA amounts

All students accepted into the ESA program are annually credited a minimum of $2,000 to their Education Savings Account. However, if a family participating in the ESA program chooses to enroll their participating child in an accredited private school, that student’s account is annually credited as:  

• $11,500 for a child with a disability 
• $10,000 for a child without a disability 

Finally, the bill requires the administration of a norm-referenced test and the religious liberty protections are strong. 

We are also pleased to report that both the House and Senate budgets, (SB 1 and HB 1) have appropriated $1 billion for school choice, funding approximately 100,000 students, which is double the amount proposed last session.  

You can watch the hearing here on Tuesday, Jan, 28, at 11 a.m. 

Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG)

TCCB policy and education analyst Shannon Jaquette is leading the Texas delegation attending the USCCB Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, DC to advocate on Capitol Hill for the following: 

• Passing fiscal year 2025 appropriations now and ensuring the highest levels of funding possible for international poverty- and hunger-reducing development and humanitarian assistance in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.  
• Preserving and supporting humanitarian protections for vulnerable families, including refugee resettlement. 
• Ensuring all tax and budget decisions support children and families and help them flourish, especially families experiencing poverty. 

Please pray for all our national and state legislators that they make wise decisions for the common good. 

Capitol rally

Please join us for Children at Risk’s Anti-Human Trafficking Rally Day on Thursday, Jan. 30, noon to 1 p.m., at the south steps of the Capitol. This is a powerful opportunity to stand united against human trafficking and advocate for justice and reform. Let’s join forces to show lawmakers that human trafficking reform has strong statewide support!  

Helpful links

To understand better and follow more closely the workings of the Legislature, the following websites are teeming with information, including legislators’ bios, committee members, rules, procedures, and links to live broadcasts of hearings and floor debate as well as archives from previous sessions. We recommend bookmarking them for quick access:

https://house.texas.gov/  

https://senate.texas.gov/ 

https://capitol.texas.gov/ - includes the feature MyTLO which offers personalized viewing of legislative content