AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers have been in session nearly a year now, and it doesn't look like they'll be going home anytime soon. The third special legislative session ends Tuesday, and lawmakers have little to show for it. As of now, only two bills are going to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, and neither is his top priority.
Gov. Abbott has promised Texans that lawmakers will pass a voucher program. It would allow parents to use public school dollars to send their child to private schools. But once again, he couldn’t deliver.
“I don't think that's responsible use of taxpayer monies because the voucher, at its face, is heavily pushed by the far extreme right, but it's also the greatest evidence of governmental welfare,” said Rep. Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd.
Rep. Bailes is one of many rural Republicans who has joined Democrats to fight against any program that would take money away from public schools. In an attempt to sway such critics, there’s a new House bill that makes a significant increase to public school funding and adds in accountability measures for students participating in the voucher program. Rep. Bailes still isn’t convinced.
“In the state of Texas as a whole, I think our kids should be first and foremost priority to do whatever we can to give them the best opportunity that we can as a state, and I have yet to see any voucher bill which does that,” he said.
We’ll see if the bill sways any other rural Republicans in future sessions, but Democrats say they’ll keep fighting it.
“To think about having to go into a fifth session for this year because the governor didn't get what he wants is really ridiculous,” said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin. “And the fact that we've yet to invest in our public schools this far into the school year, when we know that our schools are without what they need, is also very upsetting. So yes, it's a win for public schools in that it demonstrates support for public schools, but I'll tell you that we are really disappointed and angered that the governor has failed to allow investment into our public schools.”
Rep. Hinojosa expects another 30-day special session to be called this week. She thinks there will be a hearing on the voucher bill by Wednesday or Thursday.
“It is an audacious voucher scam that is bigger than even the Senate entitlement for private schools is. This is over $10,000 per student, so my regular kid would get more money to go to a private school than he would to go to an ISD or a neighborhood school,” she said. “There is a smorgasbord of special interest money in the bill now, with, we've counted upwards of 50 new entitlements and allotments, which is a way to sell the voucher, embedded in this bill. The increase in per-student [funding] does not even catch us up to the inflationary increase since 2019, which was the last time we increased per-student funding… This bill is a big disappointment. It does not deliver for our kids. It does not deliver for our public schools.”
Unlike Rep. Hinojosa, her Republican colleague, Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano, says he is in favor of the new House bill.
"I am for school choice. I'm for empowering parents to make the decisions they deem necessary for their kids," he said. "At the same time, I'm a proud product of public schools. My three children — Brady, Charlotte, and Landry — are in public schools. I believe strongly that we need to invest in public schools. And House Bill 1 does all of those things: Raising teacher pay, raising the basic allotment, providing more funding for school security, addressing accountability issues, and providing a school choice measure that I believe is very, very necessary."
Rep. Leach is also hearing that the governor will call lawmakers back for the fourth special session this week. He says it's expected to start Tuesday.
"I think that the House should get this bill to the floor for a public debate and for a public vote, because no matter where people stand on this issue, the voters of Texas, the people of Texas, deserve to know where we stand," he said.
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Several lawmakers from both parties have said nothing has changed, and they will continue to reject voucher legislation.
"The more the governor pushes school choice and fails, the weaker he looks and perhaps the more foolish he looks,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.
GOP infighting apparently led to the death of another priority: border legislation. A bill that would have created a state crime for illegally entering Texas from Mexico got caught in the crosshairs of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan. Patrick says the House bill isn’t tough enough, while Phelan says it is.
“When we look at the immigration legislation, it died not because of any real disagreement over the core elements there, but rather over the details, and at the end of the day, the inability of the House and the Senate to work together,” Jones said.
To give you some perspective, these special sessions come at a cost to taxpayers. Legislators collect $221 a day, which means a 30-day session could cost around $1.2 million.