North Texas private school headmaster gives her perspective on school choice vouchers
texaseducations@cbs.com
.
If Texas'
proposed school choice bill
is passed, it could send shockwaves through private and public schools.
With the bill
, most students would receive just over $10,000, with
higher amounts available
for those with disabilities. Homeschooling families could receive up to $2,000.
The money would come from state tax dollars, with lawmakers proposing to allocate $1 billion from Texas' budget surplus for the program. If passed, the program would go into effect during the 2026–2027 school year, giving the Texas Comptroller's Office one year to implement the logistics and educate the public.
Still,
opposition remains
, particularly from rural lawmakers who fear the measure could siphon funds away from public schools.
Deborah Hof, headmaster at Selwyn School, an independent day school in Argyle, recently sat down with CBS News Texas to talk about how the program would impact her students. Selwyn School is K-12th grade and has 135 students enrolled.
Lacey Beasley
: From a bird's eye view, how do you see this potentially impacting Selwyn?
Hof
: You know, that's a really good question because I don't know. As far as I can tell from the legislation I've read so far, it seems like it's going to be really a small number of kids. I'm not anticipating an influx of applicants. I think this, no matter how well this legislation is written, is going to be confusing for a long time.
Beasley
: Some students could get $10,000 with [the vouchers]. There's also the question of, would tuition rise along with that? Would those kind of cancel out?
Hof
: I'm certainly not going to talk about other private schools because I promise you, I've heard the conversation as well. The answer for Selwyn is absolutely not. That is not the goal. The goal is not to use public tax money to raise our tuition.
Beasley
: Would Selwyn consider declining the vouchers?
Hof
: Absolutely. Without a doubt. The way the law is written [it] says this is about giving parents choice. It's not about the state deciding what curriculum is used. Very few, I'm not going to say none, I think it might be none, but very few independent schools take any state or federal money, and we're not going to take any money if it means that we have to sidestep our mission. And when we finally get a decision and we can read every single word in the legislation, we can make an informed decision. I think you're going to find that more private schools say no than you think.
Beasley
: How do you think this will impact public education?
Hof
: OK, so this is a little more personal and a little less professional. I don't know how else to say that. It a little bit breaks my heart. I said earlier, I'm going to say it again. Public schools have to be fabulous for any of us to be fabulous. And so, as I think it through, I can't imagine how it's not going to hurt the public schools.
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