Former GOP lawmaker joins group to hold school choice program accountable

(The Center Square) – Former state Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, has joined a statewide nonprofit group’s board of directors, Our Schools Our Democracy, to hold accountable a new school choice program being administered by the state.

He will oversee the group’s newly launched Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, the only voucher watchdog reporting portal in the country. It says it will be conducting research and policy analysis related to Texas’ and other state programs, among other advocacy efforts.

The application process for Texas’ new school choice program, Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), launched in February with 274,183 students applying. The number of applicants set a national record for the first year of a new school choice program, the state comptroller’s office, which is administering the program, said.

The $1 billion program was touted by proponents as a way to support students from lower income families seeking to leave public schools for alte...