Texas House rejects Governor Abbott's top education priority

Friday afternoon, the Texas House voted 84-63 to strip Governor Greg Abbott's top education priority from a larger education bill. The governor has threatened to campaign against fellow Republicans who don't support education savings accounts, a measure allowing families to use public school tax dollars for private and home schools.

Abbott called lawmakers to Austin for a fourth special session, in part because lawmakers did not pass the school choice voucher measure nearly all year. Friday, more than twenty rural Republicans sided with Democrats to kill the latest version of his priority even when billions of dollars in teacher pay raises and per-student funding for schools was included.

The coalition against education savings accounts stripped the policy from the larger bill. Then, the bill author, Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, sent the bill back a step in the legislative process because it's not expected to pass the Texas Senate or be signed by the governor without it.

"Quite frankly, as you know, if you support this amendment, it goes from an either-or and it becomes a none-of-it bill. If there's no ESA's, the reality is, the school finance piece will not be law," said Rep. Buckley before the vote was taken in the 150-member body.

In a statement, Governor Abbott wrote the vote was "just another step on the path to provide school choice."

"I will continue advancing school choice in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot box, and will maintain the fight for parent empowerment until all parents can choose the best education path for their child. I am in it to win it," wrote Gov. Abbott.

Buckley's House Bill 1 was a sprawling, multi-billion-dollar idea. To get skeptical rural Republicans to go along with education savings accounts, it included $4,000 teacher bonuses and raised the per-student funding for public schools. It also made drastic changes to the STAAR test requirements and A-F school accountability system.

The controversial part was Article 6, which created a program where 40,000 students could receive $10,500 a year to attend a private school. Homeschool children would've received $1,000. Similar measures have passed the Texas Senate multiple times in recent years. Governor Abbott has campaigned across the state hoping to gain supporters and pressure the Texas House to pass it.

A group of rural Republicans have long been opposed to the idea, fearing it will take students out of their local public schools, drawing key funding away from small districts. Adding the cultural importance of "Friday Night Lights" to the economic importance of being some area's largest employers, many rural communities see vouchers as a threat to the center of their community.

Rep. John Raney, R - College Station, authored the amendment to strip out the policy from the education bill and argued it was unconstitutional and not "conservative" to add another state entitlement program. State records show the program will cost around $500 million this year but may get up to $4 billion in the next two-year budget cycle.

“I am by no means a public education expert but I believe in my heart that using taxpayer dollars to fund an entitlement program is not conservative and it’s bad public policy," said Rep. Raney.

The House chamber broke into a standing ovation when another rural Republican, Rep. Drew Darby, R - San Angelo, thanked him for his service in the chamber - a nod to the intense political pressure expected from taking on the governor.

In his statement, Gov. Abbott said of the Republican holdouts: "The small minority of pro-union Republicans in the Texas House who voted with Democrats will not derail the outcome that their voters demand."

Before the vote, supporters of the idea made emotional pleas to their colleagues to try to change the vote count, arguing the policy offers another route for students who struggle in traditional education settings.

“We know that we cannot serve every single child and give them the tools and the resources they might need. Whether that’s a disabled student. Whether that’s a low-income student. Whether that’s a student with learning disabilities. We cannot keep doing the same thing without a different result, said Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R - Lakeway.

Democrats continue to vote in a block to stop the idea. House Democratic Caucus Chair, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D - San Antonio, wrote afterward that "a bipartisan majority in the Texas House DEFEATED Greg Abbott's voucher scam."

It is unclear whether Governor Abbott will call lawmakers back for a fifth special session on the issue. The Texas Senate is expected to take next week off for Thanksgiving. After the holiday, there's around one week left in this fourth special session.