Texas’ new school voucher program is a key factor in the election for the state’s next comptroller.
The high-stakes, though relatively low-profile, race pits a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and Green Party candidate against each other. They’re all vying to be the state’s next chief financial officer, who, among other things, oversees the $1 billion voucher fund known as Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA).
Current Comptroller Don Huffines – a former Dallas-area state senator – was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott this spring, even though Huffines ran to unseat him as governor four years ago. Huffines replaced former acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock after defeating him in March’s Republican primary.
Campaigning on his business experience and strong Christian faith – with the slogan “faith, family, freedom” – Huffines has long supported a school voucher system for Texas. He didn’t respond to KERA’s multiple requests for an interview, but told the Texas Tribune’s Matthew Watkins in April that he’s “a champion” of the program.
“We see the demand right now,” Huffines said. “And I think it’s going to do nothing but substantially increase.”
Texas counted more than 274,000 requests for TEFA money to fund private or home schooling. More than 100,000 students got some money before the state hit the program’s billion-dollar cap.
“The legislation that was passed requires the comptroller, the way I read it, to add to the budget everyone on the waitlist,” Huffines told Watkins. “Now, the legislature doesn’t have to fund it, but I’m supposed to present them a budget with everybody on the wait-list.”
In his appropriations request to state lawmakers, Huffines is asking to add another $1 billion to the program during the 2028-29 biennium, meaning the TEFA budget would more than double, and keep growing as more families signed on.
Huffines’ leading opponent, Austin-area Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, disagrees with that approach.
“Whenever you start a new program, you don’t start talking about doubling its funding before you’ve even gone through a single year of the new program,” Eckhardt told KERA. “You want to see what the results are. You don’t haul off and double the funding right out of the gate.”
What does a comptroller do?
Although the down-ballot race isn’t getting the same attention as the races for governor and U.S. senator, “comptroller is a pretty important function,” said Brent Boyea, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“Probably the easiest way to think about it is they are in charge of estimating the revenue of the state, certifying budget funds,” he said. “They kind of figure out what the economic growth is going to be over the next couple of years, and they’re really important for trying to figure out … how much money the state could spend.”
With 20 years’ experience in both county and state elected seats, Eckhardt reads the comptroller’s role as that of someone who should assess how the money was spent, then tell lawmakers who benefited the most, the least, and not at all.
“And then the legislature decides whether this experiment worked, didn’t work or needs to be scuttled,” she said.
Texas’ comptroller’s office is uniquely powerful – and partisan. Less than half of states have a state comptroller’s office, and only about half of those are elected by party.
“I think most historically have tried not to make it super partisan, but there have been exceptions to that,” Boyea said. “But mostly it’s designed to be a check on overspending, on making sure that the balance, the budget is balanced and you don’t have things out of whack.”
Jim Hamill, with Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, said the comptroller is supposed to evaluate the effectiveness of a fund like TEFA – but he worries about bias built into the system. State data shows 70% of TEFA recipients already had their children in private or home schools. So Hamill expects the same percentage will favor the program.
“If you ask them, how do you like the vouchers? They’re going to say, we love them, because they’ve already made the decision to leave the public schools,” said Hamill. “That becomes less meaningful when the parents have already left the public schools.”
Disagreements over vouchers
The Green Party candidate already disliked the voucher plan. Shehla Faizi, a podcaster and mom who lives in Irving, said the billion dollars would’ve been better spent on public schools.
“As a comptroller, first and foremost, I can’t change the law,” Faizi said. “What I can do is show how the money is going in and how it’s impacting directly public schools.”
Faizi said Texas public schools were already suffering from reduced state funding and falling enrollment before TEFA funds drew hundreds of millions of dollars that would’ve followed students to public schools into private schools.
“There’s a lot of taxpayer money being used for that,” she said, “and it will most definitely have a negative impact on public schools and people who want to send their kids to public schools.”
The other comptroller candidate is Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza, who didn’t respond to interview requests.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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