Photo: Sharp, Eric
After an all night debate, Texas has what Republican leadership has wanted for years; school choice.
The vote was 85 to 63.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott praised the House in a statement, saying, “For the first time in Texas history, our state has passed a universal school choice bill out of both chambers in the Texas Legislature,” said Governor Abbott. “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. Texas could not have accomplished this without the hard work and unwavering support from Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dustin Burrows, Chairman Brandon Creighton, and Chairman Brad Buckley. I applaud the legislators who took a stand with the overwhelming majority of Texans who support school choice. When it reaches my desk, I will swiftly sign this bill into law, creating the largest day-one school choice program in the nation and putting Texas on a pathway to becoming the best state in America for educating our kids.”
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows also released a statement, saying, “Today marks a historic chapter for education in our state, with the Texas House passing its landmark ‘Texas Two Step’ proposals to deliver more education opportunities for students alongside the largest-ever increase in public school funding. House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 2 work together to meaningfully improve the overall education ecosystem in Texas, with the latter empowering parents of students with unique learning needs to access educational resources that might otherwise be unaffordable or inaccessible. 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.”
On the opposing side, Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder put out a statement of his own, blasting the move; “The vast majority of Texas students will not benefit from this legislation – more than 150 counties in Texas have ZERO private school options. But that doesn’t matter to Greg Abbott and his fellow Republicans- so long as their donors get richer. Greg Abbott knows this voucher bill is unpopular- if it weren’t, he wouldn’t have targeted 14 of his own Republicans to force it through. This bill is welfare for the rich, plain and simple. Working families are going to be the ones who will foot the bill for this voucher scam. We’re deeply disappointed in the lawmakers who chose to fall in line instead of standing up for their communities. As Democrats we will continue fighting for our public school students.”