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School choice expected to be focus of upcoming Texas Legislative Session
FOX 26 Reporter Sherman Desselle has more on why it's expected to be discussed.
HOUSTON - With increased support in the state legislature, Texas Republican lawmakers are gearing up to push for school choice during the upcoming legislative session.
This comes after a contentious debate over education policy last year, which saw similar proposals fail.
According to Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas House now includes 79 strong supporters of school choice—what he calls the necessary votes to secure the passage of the legislation.
"Overall, school choice legislation will pass," said Mark Jones, a political analyst. "The only question is how robust, and how expansive it will be."
In 2023, a similar school choice bill failed to make it through the legislature. The measure would have provided parents with Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) or vouchers, allowing them to use public funds to pay for private school tuition. Critics argued that the program would siphon money from public schools, potentially harming the resources available for students.
"Some say that this is going to be paid for by taking money away from public education. That's completely false," said Abbott. "We will have separate pots of money. One for public schools, which we will fully fund, teacher pay raises which we will fully fund, and then a separate pot for school choice."
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Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, a longtime advocate of school choice, echoed Abbott's sentiments, emphasizing that the initiative would not undercut public schools.
"Since 2015, the Senate has passed school choice five times. It died in a Republican-controlled House each time. That is unacceptable and inexcusable. With an expanded Republican majority in the Texas House, there is no reason Texas students should be left behind," said Patrick.
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However, opponents remain steadfast in their opposition. Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, argued that Abbott's assurances are misleading.
"The Governor claims, well we're coming out of two pots. So we're coming out of two different funds in the budget. There's only one pot. And that's the state budget," Robison said. "We still oppose vouchers, we're going to continue to fight them, and we'll see how many votes they have when the final vote is taken in the House some months from now."