One Billion for Vouchers. Show the Audit Before the Vote.

One billion dollars. About 110,000 kids. And the law already says somebody has to audit it.

Plain-English summary

Texas built an education savings account program in 2025. The state brands it Texas Education Freedom Accounts. Most people call it vouchers. The comptroller runs it. The cap for this two-year budget is $1 billion.

Now the power in Austin has flipped. Democrats won the Texas House and the governor's office. A Democrat is headed to the comptroller's office, the same office that runs the program. On November 7, the Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that a House Democrat said the program will be "probably unrecognizable, if not extinct" when they are done with it.

One side wants to grow it. One side wants to gut it. I want the receipts first.

Why it matters

East Texas families are on both sides of this. Some pulled a child out of a school that was not working and used the account to do it. Some live in towns where the public school is the biggest employer and the Friday night lights. Both kinds of families pay the same taxes.

A billion dollars is not a talking point. It is our money. Before anybody grows it, cuts it, or kills it, we should know what it bought.

The receipt

FACT: Senate Bill 2 from the 2025 regular session created the Education Savings Account Program in Chapter 29, Subchapter J of the Education Code. Section 29.352 says the comptroller "shall establish and administer" it. (enrolled bill text)

FACT: For the budget period that began September 1, 2025, Section 29.3521(c-1) says spending "may not exceed $1 billion."

FACT: The general amount per child is 85 percent of the statewide average state and local funding per student. Children with disabilities can get more, capped at $30,000 a year. Homeschool students are capped at $2,000 a year. (Section 29.361)

FACT: Section 29.363 requires the comptroller to hire a private auditor to check accounts and eligibility "not less than once per year." It requires the State Auditor to audit the organizations that handle the money, and to randomly pull 10 percent of applications for an eligibility check.

FACT: Section 29.371 requires an annual report covering application counts, participant satisfaction, test results, effect on school capacity, and "the amount of cost savings accruing to the state." It goes on the program website, and the State Auditor verifies it.

FACT: Section 29.369 makes individual student records confidential. That protects kids. It does not hide totals.

DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: Community Impact reported in September that nearly 110,000 students have received money from the program, more than 106,000 are on a waitlist, and the comptroller's office asked lawmakers for more than $2 billion for the next two years. (Community Impact)

DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: The Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that the comptroller's office under Republican leadership shielded some funding data, citing student privacy, and that the incoming comptroller, Sarah Eckhardt, says she plans to "rigorously audit" the spending and release more information. The same story quotes Sen. Paul Bettencourt saying the Legislature will need to review outcomes from the 2026-27 school year. (Texas Tribune)

What Ryan says

RYAN STATEMENT: I do not care which party is holding the checkbook. The rule is the same. Show me the evidence.

The people who wrote this law put the audit in the law. The people who want to kill it say they want transparency. Good. Then nobody should have a problem with this.

Release the first private audit. Release the State Auditor's random check. Release the annual report with real totals. Then have the fight.

If the program saved money, show it. If it did not, show that too. If kids with disabilities are handing accounts back, we need to know why. If a school in Gregg County lost students, the families in Gregg County deserve the number, not a press release.

Same office. New party. Same rule. Open the books.

What I will not do is pretend I already know the answer. Nobody does yet. The first school year is not even over. Anybody telling you this program is a total success or a total scam before the audit is selling you something.

What this does not prove

It does not prove the program wasted money. It does not prove the program worked. It does not prove any school, vendor, or family did anything wrong. It does not prove what the new Legislature will do. Ending the program takes a vote of both chambers and a governor's signature, and Republicans still hold the Texas Senate.

What it does prove

The law requires a yearly private audit, a State Auditor review of the money handlers, a random 10 percent eligibility check, and a public annual report. Those are not favors. They are duties written into the Education Code.

The spending cap for this cycle is $1 billion. That is on the record.

The fight over the next budget has already started. The audit should land before the vote, not after it.

The bottom line

Vouchers are about to be the biggest education fight in Austin. Before anybody grows it or guts it, Texas should see the audit the law already demands. Receipts first. Then the vote.

This is the record.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name. Read it. Share it. Send receipts, evidence, witnesses. Put eyes on the record.