Vouchers and School Takeovers: How Abbott and Hinojosa Are Fighting Over Education in the Final Week

Two years ago, Gov. Greg Abbott helped defeat Republican House members who had blocked his school voucher plan. Now Abbott is on the ballot himself, seeking a fourth term on Nov. 3. But according to The Texas Tribune, he is not making those education wins the center of his closing pitch.

His Democratic challenger, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, is doing the opposite. She has built her campaign around what she calls "saving public schools," and she is using the state's takeovers of local school districts to put Abbott on defense.

What Hinojosa is promising

Hinojosa has said she would fire Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who oversees the takeovers, on her first day in office. "We know that Greg Abbott has taken over Fort Worth ISD (and) Beaumont ISD," she said at a press conference in Houston last month. "This is a model that threatens our public school kids across this state."

Since 2023, the state's intervention in districts with low STAAR scores has removed the elected school board and superintendent in seven school districts, the Tribune reported. The Texas Education Agency appointed Mike Miles to run Houston ISD, the state's largest district. Fort Worth and Lake Worth are now under intervention in Tarrant County, a battleground both parties want.

Even if she wins, the Tribune noted, Hinojosa could face an uphill fight to undo the takeovers without the support of the Republican-controlled Legislature.

What Abbott is saying

Abbott's campaign points out that a district must have five consecutive years of failing state accountability grades before the law allows a takeover. "This is not a decision made after one or two failing years," Abbott said. "In Houston ISD, state intervention led to a doubling of A and B-rated schools and a 90% reduction in D and F-rated schools." He said he expects the same results in Fort Worth.

Abbott has also said he will crack down on teacher misconduct, limit devices in the classroom and trim administrative spending. In the campaign's final weeks, though, he has focused mostly on cutting property taxes, securing the border and protecting Texas' conservative identity. "And we're working on the education side also," he said in a CBS Texas interview. "Our students are doing better in schools than ever before."

The voucher question

The $1 billion voucher program, which lets families use state money toward private school, launched this year. Republicans have said little about it on the trail.

Matthew Wilson, a researcher at Southern Methodist University, said the fight over vouchers created some resentment among rural Republicans who did not want tax dollars going to private tuition. He said rural Texas is unlikely to flip, but the risk for the GOP is that unhappy Republicans stay home. In 2022, Abbott won 80% of the vote in rural counties, building a roughly 668,000-vote edge over Democrat Beto O'Rourke, according to the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Leslie Finger, a political scientist at the University of North Texas, said Republican candidates have been quiet on vouchers. "They are a little bit on the defensive now," she said.

Will schools decide it?

Maybe not. A University of Texas poll this month found voters more focused on the cost of living, the economy and corruption. Voters in that poll were evenly split on which candidate would be better for public education. Only about one in five registered voters has a child in school, said Joel Leader of the University of Texas at Arlington.

In Tarrant County, Democratic chair Allison Campolo said the Fort Worth takeover has fired up voters. Tarrant County Republican chair Tim Davis did not respond to the Tribune's request for comment.

What it means for families

Parents, not politicians, are a child's first teachers, and both school choice and strong neighborhood schools serve that calling. Families who want results and accountability should look past the slogans and at each candidate's record. Abbott points to better grades at Houston schools. Hinojosa points to communities that lost their elected boards.

For the polls and the money behind this race, see our earlier look at the Abbott-Hinojosa contest. Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.