Texas House preliminarily approves controversial school voucher plan, $7.7B school funding bill

From The Texas Newsroom:

After more than 12 hours of debate, the Texas House approved two of the most closely watched bills of the legislative session: a $7.7 billion public school funding package and a hotly contested proposal to create a pathway for families to use state tax dollars to help send their kids to private schools.

The House vote on the latter, Senate Bill 2, marks a massive victory for top Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who named the school voucher measure a top priority for the state Legislature this session.

Past attempts to create the Education Savings Account program outlined in SB 2 stalled in the Texas House in 2023 during both the regular session and several special sessions. The proposal’s failure that year came after rural House Republicans and Democrats voted together against the bill. Since then, Abbott successfully backed pro-voucher candidates in the 2024 Republican primaries, shifting the votes in his favor.

“For the first time in Texas history, our state has passed a universal school choice bill out of both chambers in the Texas Legislature,” Abbott said in a statement shortly after the Texas House passed SB 2 on second reading. “This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children.”

Wednesday morning began with a full gallery of onlookers and noisy protests at the Capitol as lawmakers took up the two pivotal education proposals. Advocates, students and others wearing red shirts in support of public schools were gathered in the Capitol rotunda where they could be heard chanting throughout the building.

Republican caucus members met with Abbott, who stressed the importance of passing the legislation. President Donald Trump even video-called in to let members know that passing the voucher bill would be in line with his plan to help America improve its education standards when compared to other countries.

As debate began on the floor, protesters filled the House gallery. Those that couldn’t make it inside the gallery attended a rally outside. At the height of it all, there were nearly 300 people outside speaking out against SB 2 and the idea of using any taxpayer funds to fund private school education.

“There’s a reason it has taken Texas Republicans 30 years to get it this far,” said Emily Witt with the advocacy group Texas Freedom Network. “Because Texans do not want vouchers. Texans want to support our public schools.”

Despite the convergence at the Capitol, the bill passed around 2 a.m. with a vote of 85-63. The only Republicans to vote against the bill were former House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont and Rep. Gary VanDeaver of New Boston. After the bills’ passage, House Speaker Dustin Burrows thanked sponsor Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, for his work.

“I appreciate the hard work of Chairman Buckley to ensure every Texas student has access to a better education and thank my colleagues for their thoughtful debate and dedication to strengthening Texas’ future today,” said Burrows.

On Thursday, SB 2 cleared its final vote in the Texas House. The legislation now heads to a conference committee, where both chambers will sort out any differences between their respective versions of the proposal.

Senate Bill 2: What’s in it and what Texas lawmakers debated around the voucher proposal

Senate Bill 2 would create education savings accounts, or ESAs, that would give parents around $10,000 — or 85% of the estimated statewide average amount of funding per student annually — to put toward private school tuition and other approved educational expenses, like pre-K, books and tutoring.

“My intent is to provide students and families with the opportunity to choose the best possible educational setting for their child, and I believe Senate Bill 2 provides this choice,” Buckley said as he introduced the bill for debate.

Under the proposal, families who enroll a student with special needs will be able to use up to $30,000 in state funds. Those who choose to homeschool their student will receive $2,000 to be used on approved expenses. The money would be overseen and audited by the Texas comptroller.

Supporters argue that the measure empowers parents to choose the best learning environment for their kids, especially for those zoned for underperforming schools. Opponents argue the plan would divert state funding away from public schools and that the legislation doesn’t have enough accountability mechanisms built in to track student outcomes.

The bill, originally fast-tracked by the Senate earlier this session, was amended and moved forward by the House Public Education Committee earlier this month. These changes required the program to prioritize students from low-income households or those with disabilities ahead of families in higher income brackets — one of the complaints House lawmakers said they heard about the Senate’s original voucher plan.

In the proposal the House voted on early Thursday morning, 80% of the program’s available funds would go to families falling under an income threshold tied to the federal poverty level. For a family of four, the cap is around $160,750 per year. But several Democrats took issue with the fact that Texas’ wealthiest families would still be eligible to use 20% of the slots in the $1 billion program. During floor debate, Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, offered one of several amendments designed to change that.

“Let’s just ensure the middle class that this is designed to help serve, [that] there’s more money to go to them,” Bucy said.

Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, fought against the idea.

“Just as we serve all kids in current public schools — including the wealthy ones — I think this is an opportunity to give more options to all parents,” Frank said. The amendment was ultimately tabled, essentially killing the proposed change.

Last week, lawmakers allocated $1 billion in the state’s next budget to establish the ESA program for the next two years. Rep. James Talarico, an Austin Democrat and former middle school teacher, unsuccessfully recommended an amendment that would have allowed Texans to determine whether or not to create the voucher program through a vote.

“It’s the only thing that will put this issue to bed,” he told the chamber. “Even if this passes, we will be back here next session, and the session after that and the session after that fighting about vouchers.”

Talarico said Abbott has attempted to intimidate Republicans in the chamber who wanted to vote against the measure, like the governor did by challenging Republicans who were against vouchers in the 2024 primaries.

Responding to the claim, Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris told The Texas Newsroom, “This is absolutely not true. Governor Abbott has been speaking with members encouraging them to vote for school choice.”

House moves $7.7 billion school funding bill forward

Before floor debate on SB 2 began Wednesday afternoon, the Texas House first took up House Bill 2, a sweeping school funding proposal.

The $7.7 billion proposal, authored by Rep. Buckley, would increase funding for several different areas of public education, including designating $3 billion to teacher pay raises and $1.5 billion in additional funds for special education funding.

“This is more money for Texas public education than any other piece of legislation in the history of the state,” Buckley said. “This is landmark funding for public schools.”

Rep. Talarico told Buckley that, while he did vote the bill out of committee, he was still skeptical of its efficacy.

“This bill fails to meet the moment, and this bill is wholly inadequate to the crisis we face,” he said.

The state hasn’t increased its funding level for schools since 2019. HB 2 would increase per-student funding by about $400. But education advocates have said it would take a $1,300 boost for each student to get districts back to the same level of spending power they had six years ago.

On the floor, Buckley acknowledged the bill doesn’t go that far, and referenced a quote from Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio.

“School funding and public education funding in particular cannot be viewed as a sculpture. It’s a garden,” Buckley said. “This is planting our seed to build our way back to making sure that our schools have the resources they need.”

Of note was an amendment added to the bill by Bernal which allows schools to fund full-day pre-K. Bernal told lawmakers he found a way to make that change without adding any additional costs to the bill’s bottom line.

After nearly 3 hours for debate, HB 2 passed on second reading in a 144-4 vote. Like SB 2, the measure cleared a final vote in the Texas House on Thursday and now heads to the Texas Senate for consideration.

Speaker Burrows praised the bill’s passage.

“House Bill 2 lays the foundation for a modernized, responsive school finance system that will grow with the needs of Texas students,” Burrows said in a statement, adding that the bill targets taxpayer dollars “where they’ll make the greatest impact for students and teachers.”

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