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 million.

Williams reviewed research and examples he said legislators are using to draft Texas policy. He described Arizona’s universal debit-card–style ESA program as a model under consideration and cited studies showing higher takeup of ESAs among higher-income households in Arizona. “What you’re looking at here is… the more money that the parents make, the more likely they are to receive the ESA,” Williams said, summarizing a chart in his slides.

Board members and staff questioned how an ESA would be administered, who would qualify, and whether the program would include accountability and protections for students with disabilities. Williams said draft proposals discussed at the Capitol included prioritization for low-income students and students with disabilities, but he and Rockwall ISD staff warned that private providers are not uniformly equipped to serve students with severe special needs. He used a personal example: his daughter, a former student with significant needs, “probably would not have had that access” in some private settings.

Rockwall ISD staff and trustees also raised the constitutional and fiscal questions the district faces if ESAs use property-tax–derived funds. Williams and David Carter, the district’s budget presenter, noted that state recapture and the Texas Constitution’s Article VII create legal and political complications if property-tax money collected locally is redirected to private education. Carter added that fiscal notes accompanying Senate Bill 2 estimate the program could grow in future biennia and expand beyond initial caps, increasing long‑term costs to the state.

Trustees asked procedural questions about caps and administration. Williams said one draft included a $1 billion cap for the initial program and that after administrative fees roughly $920 million remained for grants, translating to an initial allotment of roughly 92,000 $10,000 ESAs; he also said special‑needs students could receive higher amounts (for example, $11,500 under some drafts). He warned the appropriation could escalate quickly if the program were expanded to children already outside the public system.

Williams and staff stressed accountability provisions if the Legislature moves forward: verification of eligible expenses, auditing of vendor administrators, equal access for students with disabilities, and clear rules for return to public school. “If state funds are being spent to educate students in private education, how will we know that those funds are being well spent?” Williams asked the trustees.

The district did not take a formal position at the meeting; trustees said they would continue to monitor legislation and provide information to the community. Williams and staff recommended the board watch draft language for caps, eligibility rules, and accountability and prepare for fiscal scenarios in which the ESA program reduces average daily attendance and state formula revenues.

The board scheduled further briefings and public information sessions and said staff would continue completing financial modeling as bills move through committee and to the floors of the Texas House and Senate.