Bill to provide $17,000 for those opting out of public schools defeated in California senate committee

The latest push for education savings accounts – a type of school choice voucher that would give parents money to finance their children’s non-public schooling – was defeated in a 5-2 vote in California’s senate education committee earlier this week.

If passed, Senate Bill 292 would have established a fund for students who opt out of attending public schools that is equivalent to the amount the state spends on each student every year — around $17,000 per pupil during the 2022-23 academic year. Families could have used the money for private school tuition or other educational expenses. Leftover funds could be put toward higher education costs once the student graduates from high school.

“California’s government run schools are failing too many students,” said the bill’s author, Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) in an emailed statement. “The government focuses more on funding institutions than students, and most parents have no other options.”

Similar education savings accounts programs have gained traction in Republican-controlled states like Florida, Mississippi, and West Virginia over the last several years, and today, 11 states have programs of their own. But it’s the third time this particular concept has failed to take root in California in recent years – something that didn’t surprise Lance Christensen, a vice president of the conservative-leaning group that sponsored the legislation, the California Policy Center.

“I didn’t have any false delusions of it getting passed by the committee – I know what the committee looks like,” said Christensen, who promoted education savings accounts while unsuccessfully running for the state’s superintendent of public instruction last year. “This was another attempt to have the discussion.”

Education savings accounts have been hotly debated in education circles, with proponents saying they would provide more resources and a higher quality of education to California students. Advocates also say such accounts would give parents the freedom to customize their children’s education, and remove them from a system that’s currently failing.

But opponents say education savings accounts would drain money from the state’s public education system and aggravate enrollment issues in California’s public schools, leading to layoffs and other financial issues. In addition, they claim existing education savings account models include little accountability to track how funds are being spent, and that without proper oversight, children taken out of public schools could fall through the cracks.

The California Teachers Association has been one of the most vocal opponents of school choice initiatives, and voted to reject programs that would provide vouchers – where the state would provide tuition to private schools directly – in both 1993 and 2000.

“This is a big issue for us, and continues to be a big issue,” said Frank Wells, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Association. “Our position is that we need to fully fund California public schools, and that private schools are called private for a reason. They are not public entities, and they can do just fine without public funding being diverted from K-12 students.”

Still, in 2021, a California Policy Center survey of 800 voters found that 54% said they would support an education savings account initiative, and a 2023 poll conducted by Yes. Every Kid., another school choice advocacy organization, reported 54% of Americans support education savings accounts.

Despite such surveys, a campaign to get education savings accounts on the ballot last year got only 200,000 signatures last spring, falling short of the 997,000 needed to present the initiative to California voters.

In the future, Christensen said, those in the pro-school choice orbit, including Grove, will continue to push for education savings account initiatives.