Gov. Abbott confident school choice will pass in Texas House early next month
Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday he believes his school choice bill will pass in a matter of weeks. He made his comments at a private school in Plano where he again pushed for the $1 billion plan to spend taxpayer money so students can attend private school.
"I look forward to the bill being voted out of the Texas House committee either later this week or probably next week, then hitting the House floor sometime in early April and getting it passed," said Abbott.
The governor toured St. Timothy Christian Academy in Plano as House Democratic lawmakers continue to sharply criticize the plan, saying giving taxpayer money for students to attend private school will hurt public schools.
St. Timothy Christian Academy educates students who have a range of 20 different diagnoses, from autism to ADHD and speech disabilities.
Democrats have said private schools are not required by law to accommodate students with special needs or disabilities while public schools are required to do so.
"What the state wants to do is ensure that every parent and child with special needs is going to be able to have the educational pathway that's best for them, which could be their local public school," Abbott said Tuesday. "But if their local school is not living up to what's needed they'll have that option by choosing a school, like St. Timothy."
Democrats said this could be a budget buster in the future and that the state's own budget forecasts show after 2030, the plan could cost the state more than $8 billion for a two year period.
The governor said it won't be a budget buster because lawmakers set the budget.
"You cannot have a program cost more in out years than what you want to appropriate because you get to make that appropriation every session," said Abbott. "It's impossible for the program to grow so large for the budget that we can't afford it because we're only going to appropriate to it that which is affordable for the state."
If and when Texas House Republicans pass the bill, lawmakers will have to negotiate with Senate Republicans who already passed their version, which has some differences but not many.
