(The Center Square) – Former state Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, has joined a statewide nonprofit group’s board of directors, Our Schools Our Democracy, to hold accountable a new school choice program being administered by the state.
He will oversee the group’s newly launched Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, the only voucher watchdog reporting portal in the country. It says it will be conducting research and policy analysis related to Texas’ and other state programs, among other advocacy efforts.
The application process for Texas’ new school choice program, Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), launched in February with 274,183 students applying. The number of applicants set a national record for the first year of a new school choice program, the state comptroller’s office, which is administering the program, said.
The $1 billion program was touted by proponents as a way to support students from lower income families seeking to leave public schools for alternate education options, The Center Square reported. According to state data, the majority of applicants are existing private school students, 77%, and 23% were existing homeschool students, according to state data.
Less than 1% of Texas’ 5.5 million students enrolled in public schools and charter schools applied for TEFA, according to state data.
Nearly three-quarters of applicants are from low- or middle-income families, the comptroller’s office said. Nearly 30,000 applicants qualify in the category of low- or middle-income students with disabilities. Another 79,000 applicants qualify in the category of low-income households, according to preliminary data that is currently being verified. Acceptance notifications are expected by the end of the month; funds would be distributed in July, the comptroller’s office said.
Because more applicants applied than funds are available, a lottery will be used based on income eligibility; a waitlist will also be reported to the Texas Legislature.
Rogers, a sixth-generation Texan, rancher, and veterinarian in Palo Pinto County, has been an outspoken opponent of taxpayer-funded private school vouchers, arguing they don’t represent conservative values. “As Republicans, we are called to uphold conservative values, and part of that tradition is the value of personal responsibility,” he argued in his last year in office. He argues that growing the size of government and expanding government overreach into private schools are not conservative policies.
Rogers has long defended public schools, especially in rural areas like his where they are the largest employers. A prolife conservative, he voted for every Republican legislative priority except for the school choice bill. He argued he was unfairly targeted by Gov. Greg Abbott, who supported his opponent solely because of his one vote on a school choice bill. He criticized Abbott saying he “went scorched earth against rural Texas and the representatives who did their jobs representing their districts.”
His tenure in the Texas House “included two general sessions, seven special sessions, redistricting, Covid, winter storm Uri, a Democrat quorum break, expulsion of a House member, and the impeachment of [Attorney General] Ken Paxton. It also includes a litany of conservative victories that made Texas safer, reigned in out-of-control government bureaucracy, lessened what had become a crushing tax burden on our families and businesses, and fostered economic growth,” he said.
Nearly two years after losing his reelection, he joined the board of Our Schools Our Democracy “to stand up for public schools,” Rogers said.
Daniella Lopez Valdez, Board President of Our Schools Our Democracy, said the mission of the organization is “truly bipartisan” and Rogers “offers our Board a new perspective and deep understanding of education policy” and “will lend his expertise and advocacy to our work to protect the future of our Texas public schools.”
The TEFA program is currently in litigation after Muslims parents and schools sued arguing the administration of the application process was discriminatory. The judge ruled against the state and Paxton dropped representing the state.
