School choice bill stalls in House committee amid governor's veto
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas) - One of Governor Greg Abbott's top legislative priorities - school choice - remains in a House committee just days away from a key deadline and after he threatened to call lawmakers back for a special session.
The deadline for a House committee to send Senate bills to the full House for a vote is Saturday, and so far, there's no public indication the committee will meet to vote on the bill. But that could change at any time.
State Senator Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, wrote the school choice bill, SB 8, which passed in the Senate early last month.
Creighton, Chair of the Senate Education committee, told CBS News Texas, "I certainly understand the governor has expectations."
Creighton said he's doing all he can to move the Senate's school choice bill across the legislative finish line. But the main hurdle remains the House, where rural Republican and Democratic lawmakers have historically opposed school choice and taxpayer-funded education savings accounts.
Watch Jack's full interview with Texas Sen. Creighton below.
In 2023, Gov. Abbott has spent months crisscrossing the state pushing for the measure. One of his stops was at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth.
He issued a statement Sunday night warning House members against passing a watered-down version of the Senate bill. "...Legislators deserve to know that it would be vetoed if it reached my desk. Failure to expand the scope of school choice will necessitate special sessions. Parents and their children deserve no less."
"We need to be as close as we can to full universal school choice. We need our moms and dads out there to be able to have the freedom to make the decisions that are best for their kids not limited by an address," said Creighton.
State Representative Rhetta Bowers of Garland told CBS News Texas that she and other Democrats continue to strongly oppose the measure.
"We're fighting vouchers in any way possible together and showing a united front."
One key difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill is eligibility. In the House, nearly 800,000 students in either Special Education or who attend "F" rated schools are eligible to apply. Under the Senate plan, about five and a half million students in public or private schools are eligible to apply.
Bowers said she worries the bill will hurt public schools.
"We know that this will drain our classrooms, our school districts, and teachers of the resources that they need."
Creighton disagreed. "The funding is not coming out of public education. Completely separate from it and born from our surplus funds."
A Senate analysis of the bill states that funding for the education savings accounts would come out of the state's general revenue fund. But larger school districts will still lose money if their students leave for private school.
The Senate plan though would allow school districts with fewer than 20,000 enrolled students to receive grants of $10,000 per student enrolled in the program for the first five years. If accepted into the program, each student would receive up to $8,000 per year under the Senate plan.
The Senate analysis of the bill estimates about 45,000 students statewide could enroll in the program the first year alone. Both the Dallas ISD and Fort Worth ISD told CBS News Texas they don't have any estimates of how many students they could lose if this bill passes and becomes law.
A Fort Worth ISD spokeswoman said the district would lose $10,000 for each student who leaves to attend a private school under the program.
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In an interview with Jack, Texas Rep. Bowers discussed school choice as well as the Senate's passage of The CROWN Act, which she authored. Watch their full discussion below.
