Bexar County Education Coalition urges unified agenda; warns of voucher risks and funding challenges

Julia Grizzard, Executive Director of the Bexar County Education Coalition, presented an 89th-legislative-session briefing outlining BCEC priorities and risks facing public education in Texas. Her presentation highlighted a large state budget surplus juxtaposed with continuing funding pressures, an approaching ESSER funding cliff, and a widening special-education funding gap. Grizzard urged districts to coordinate a unified legislative agenda focused on raising the basic allotment with an inflation adjustment, updating special-education funding, adjusting accountability measures, and fully funding school safety.

Grizzard warned that voucher proposals and Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) pose risks to public-school funding and accountability, noting potential impacts on services for students with special needs and the lack of vendor accountability under some ESA proposals. The slides cite an approximate $10,000 per-student ESA in proposed legislation and warn of possible loss of IDEA protections for students in private settings absent statutory safeguards. Grizzard recommended coalition strategies including targeted priorities and a focus on five initiatives for the 89th session.

Why it matters: State-level policy changes — especially any diversion of public dollars to private providers — could materially affect district funding and program delivery. The presentation urged local districts to coordinate policy influence heading into the session.