Ousted Republican Blames Abbott for School Budget Crunch

In an interview with the San Antonio Report, lame-duck Texas Representative Steve Allison (R-San Antonio) blames Governor Greg Abbott for the budget crisis facing Texas schools at the moment.

“This last session, going into it, I thought if there was any place we had a consensus, it was to fix education, improve education and address the needs that we know are there,” said Allison. “And we didn’t do it because it got bogged down. I blame the governor 100 percent. [Abbott] suddenly wanted to push what he was calling ‘school choice,’ and when he held funding for important educational needs hostage for his school choice scheme, that was just devastating and inexcusable in my mind.”

Allison is one of 11 Republicans who lost their House seats this year thanks to a dedicated, intraparty campaign by Abbott over school vouchers. In 2023, Abbott pushed a new system that would let Texas parents use public money to pay for private school tuition. His efforts were blocked by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans from rural districts that feared a voucher system would drain funds from their public high schools. This worry is supported by recent studies that show public school funding falls behind other, non-voucher states once a system is in place.

Angered by the resistance to his plan, Abbott began targeting those Republicans with primary challengers. The fact that Allison was also a Republican who voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton over abuse of office earned him more ire from the far-right, who painted him as a RINO (Republican in name only) and a Democratic sympathizer despite Allison’s long and deeply conservative record. Meanwhile, any increase in school funding was withheld until Abbott got his way. The matter is likely first on the agenda when the 89^th Legislature convenes later this month.

Allison called attention to massive outside spending in Texas politics as one reason he stood against the push for vouchers. The fight is largely bankrolled by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, who gave Abbott the largest campaign contribution in Texas history. Yass is a voucher advocate who funds fights to institute them all over the country.

“But I think we’ve seen it around the country — we saw it in this primary in particular — a lot of outside influence,” said Allison. “A tremendous amount of money and mailers and campaign efforts came from outside [the district], some pro-choice, some pro-voucher, and some just on extreme conservative issues. Then the governor picked up on that, and that changed everything.”

Meanwhile, the entire Texas education system has been scrambling for funding. There was supposed to be a $4.6 billion increase in 2023 thanks to an enormous tax surplus, but the money failed to materialize when Abbott’s voucher plan was thwarted. In response, schools across the state have been cutting bus routes, teachers, programs, and infrastructure to try and make ends meet. Abbott has made it clear no new funding will pass his desk without a voucher program attached.