Consultant warns universal ESAs would shift state and local dollars away from Rockwall ISD

At a Rockwall ISD “team of 8” workshop, consultant Doug Williams told trustees that proposals for universal education savings accounts being discussed in the Texas Legislature could pull state and local funding away from public schools and toward private and home-school providers.

Williams, a retired Sunnyvale superintendent advising the district, said early budget drafts in both chambers include money for ESAs and that a $1 billion appropriation would fund roughly 92,000 $10,000 accounts after administrative fees — enough to draw private- and home-schooled students into the program as well as public-school families.

That matters, Williams and board members said, because Texas school funding depends on average daily attendance and other factors that follow students into the public system. “DSA programs are not gonna hurt schools. Schools will see a loss in average daily attendance for every student leaving within ESA,” Williams said. He estimated a 3% loss of students to ESAs could reduce Rockwall ISD revenue by approximately $3.8…