DALLAS — Texas lawmakers returned to Austin on Monday for the third special legislative session this year.
In a press release, Governor Greg Abbott announced the latest special session will focus on school vouchers. Also on the list is border security with the creation of a state deportation force, and eliminating COVID-19 mandates.
For Gov. Abbott, his primary priority since the start of the regular legislative session in January is school vouchers -- also known as school choice or education savings accounts.
Vouchers would allow families to use taxpayer money to cover the cost of private schooling.
The hot, often divisive, topic brought heavy feelings into the Capitol on Monday.
During the regular session, House Republicans voted with Democrats to block the use of public funds for the implementation of a school voucher program.
Ahead of convening in the House Chamber on Monday, House Democrats spoke in opposition of the idea -- again.
"We will never get behind Governor Greg Abbott's voucher scam that is, really, just welfare for the well-off," said Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin).
The voucher-opposing lawmakers held signs calling school choice a "scam."
"They can put as much lipstick on this pig as they want," Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) said of school voucher supporters. "In the states that have tried this, vouchers don't improve student performance, but what they do do is that they siphon off billions in underfunded public schools."
Gov. Abbott has made claims in the past that go against Rep. Talarico's statement. At a school choice rally in September, Gov. Abbott said vouchers would not only give parents freedom to choose their child's schooling, but also help public education. He claimed states with school choice had top-ranking public high schools.
"The state that ranked number one [in top schools] was Arizona. The state that ranked number two was Florida," Abbott said. "What do these two states have in common? School choice."
Opposers, including educators, disagree. More than 1,000 of them rallied outside the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion over the weekend.
"We are saying "no" to vouchers because public schools cannot afford to lose anymore funding in an already underfunded systems," said one spokesperson.
The third special session continues this week. It will last 30 days.