A recent budget analysis noted the Texas Senate’s voucher bill could affect the fund if it leads students and teachers to leave public schools.
The head of Texas’ Teacher Retirement System on Wednesday sought to assure lawmakers that a Senate proposal to create a school voucher program would not harm the state’s teacher retirement fund as suggested in a recent legislative analysis.
During a House Appropriations Committee meeting, lawmakers who help oversee the state budget questioned Brian Guthrie, executive director of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, on how Senate Bill 2 could affect the stability of funds reserved for retired teachers.
Under SB 2, families could receive public tax dollars through state-managed education savings accounts to pay for their children’s tuition at an accredited private school and other expenses like textbooks, transportation and therapy.
Texas budget experts recently concluded in their analysis of SB 2 that public schools, which receive money based on attendance, may experience a decrease in funding due to students leaving the public education system to participate in the voucher program.
The analysis, which relies on estimates provided by the Texas Education Agency, projects that roughly 24,500 students would leave public schools for private schools starting in the 2026-27 school year, increasing to 98,000 by 2030. Public school administrators and education advocates have long opposed the creation of a voucher program in Texas, saying it would deal a significant blow to public school funding.
But a different part of the bill analysis, based on information provided by the Teacher Retirement System, raised worries among public education advocates and state lawmakers in recent weeks. The analysis noted that a decrease in the number of teachers paying into the state’s teacher retirement fund — which could happen if a voucher program leads students and teachers to exit public schools for private schools — could affect the fund’s long-term stability. Lawmakers on Wednesday said they have received concerns from their constituents about the stability of the retirement funds.
Guthrie apologized to House lawmakers for the commotion the SB 2 analysis has caused. Based on the content of the bill and the education agency estimates his organization has reviewed, Guthrie clarified that he does not believe the legislation would harm Texas’ teacher retirement fund. The Teacher Retirement System executive director said his agency intended to offer the scenario in the bill analysis as a hypothetical, adding that “it would be very difficult for SB 2” as it currently exists and with current projections to hurt the fund’s stability. The analysis also states that the retirement system can currently withstand “some outflow of teacher employment from public schools to private schools.”
“That’s just the bottom line,” Guthrie said.
That explanation did not appear to fully settle Rep. Mary E. González’s concerns. The Clint Democrat noted that the SB 2 analysis does not account for changes to population growth, public school enrollment or birth rates, for example. She suggested those factors, combined with a voucher program, could also affect the number of students and teachers in public schools and the fund’s stability.
“We can all have different opinions about SB 2,” González said. “But I do want our retired teachers to have all the accurate information, and I think that’s really critical.”
The SB 2 analysis noted that the number of teachers paying into the retirement fund in the future will “ultimately depend on Texas’ population growth.” The number of teachers contributing to the retirement fund has consistently gone up in recent years, the analysis shows.
During the Senate floor debate over the legislation earlier this month, Sen. Brandon Creighton, the Conroe Republican who authored the bill, sought to reassure his colleagues that the proposal would not affect the Teacher Retirement System, stating that “we would never design a program that would put TRS at risk.”
He made those comments in response to questions from Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, who also said she has seen no evidence from other states that voucher programs harm teacher retirement funds. In a finance committee meeting last week, Huffman again attempted to dismiss those concerns.
“Of course we are committed to not doing anything to hurt our retired” teachers, she said. “It would be stupid to do.”
Source: Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune
Photo: The Teacher Retirement System of Texas complex in downtown Austin on Sept. 21, 2018. Credit: John Jordan/The Texas Tribune
