Parents want more control in their child’s education. School choice delivers it.

This sentiment has been growing for years. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have all echoed it.

But this is not some movement built purely on the will of Texas’ top politicians. Surely, the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker deserve significant credit for their leadership, but they are three men among 30 million Texans.

A majority of those 30 million Texans also echo the sentiment: The time for school choice in Texas is now.

Poll after poll has confirmed this. One of the premier polling institutions in Texas, the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, did an in-depth survey of every demographic in Texas and found that an overwhelming majority of Texans, 65%, support school choice, no matter what you call it.

And it’s not just a partisan issue. A majority of Democrats, 55%, support school choice as well.

Why?

A recent Napolitan News Service survey found that 62% of Texans felt that parents did not have enough control over their child’s education. Whether it’s a lack of transparency into what’s being taught and why, disappointment with dismal academic outcomes, out of control bullying or other reasons, parents are clamoring for more control over their children’s education.

School choice, and specifically school choice in the form of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), is the path forward to more control.

ESAs go beyond the idea of a voucher or tax credit, which only apply to private school tuition. They cover other expenses, such as “tutoring, books, therapy for special needs students and testing. ESAs are far from a blank check: Funds are held in a program account that can only be used for qualified educational expenses, and these accounts will be independently audited. Still, they maintain flexibility that empowers parents to homeschool or access education that wouldn’t be covered by other forms of school choice.

In other words, ESAs empower parents from all over Texas and of every demographic and income level to assemble an education that best fits their child, whether that’s in the form of private schooling, career and technical training, homeschooling, micro schooling, virtual education, or a hybrid of these.

ESAs are the precise answer to Texan parents’ feeling that they lack control in education, and they’re a vital part of strengthening Texas’ entire education system so that every child’s needs are met. In other states, ESAs have helped improve outcomes for all students, public, private, homeschooled, or other, and they’ve been especially effective in helping improve education for low income and minority students.

With every change comes concerns. Some are worried that school choice will drain the coffers of public schools, diverting funds from schools that are already running budget deficits. However, the ESA program being proposed in Texas will not touch a single dollar of public school funding since the program is being drawn out of a completely different pot of money.

For the public schools, the “defunding” would be no different than a student leaving for a different city, school district or public charter school — something that already happens daily, yet we do not claim that it defunds public schools.

In a completely different direction, some worry that the proposed ESA, which ranges from $10,000 to $11,500, would not be enough to cover tuition costs at private schools, especially for students with special needs. But, the median tuition of private schools in Texas is under $10,000, which means that over half of Texas’ private schools would be covered by ESAs, and some private schools that specialize in students with special needs have costs in the mid $10,000s.

Thirty-two states and Washington, D.C. have already passed some form of school choice for parents, and 18 of them have passed ESAs specifically. It is time for Texas to join them.