AUSTIN, Texas — While the Texas Senate has passed its version of a school voucher plan, it remains unclear whether it can clear the Texas House.
SB 1 would give Texas parents up to $8,000 in taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.
In the Texas House, however, Democrats and a group of rural Republicans have successfully blocked school vouchers for years, including the regular session that kicked off 2023.
House Speaker Dade Phelan says increased school funding must be part of any voucher deal, comparing it to the chicken and the egg.
“We’re going to have both. We have to have both,” Speaker Phelan told a group of reporters at the Texas Capitol. “We’re meeting two, three times a day across the House spectrum, especially with these rural Republicans who want to get comfortable with this idea.”
The Senate also passed SB 2, which would provide billions to primarily be used for teacher raises, but it provides only a small increase in public school funding.
There is some question, though, whether this legislation can even pass since the Governor’s call for a special session didn’t include either school funding or teacher raises, addressing only school vouchers.
The Texas Constitution says lawmakers can only pass bills that are on a special session agenda. The Governor can modify that agenda at any time. And he recently said he would do just that, but only if the Texas Legislature passes vouchers.
Speaker Phelan says he’s been in discussions with the Governor’s office.
“But school finance is very important in this. The Governor knows that. And again, he’s been working with us on an hourly basis,” said the Republican leader from Beaumont.
