Friday is the last day of the first week of the third special session happening now in Austin.
The topics lawmakers are expected to pass bills on are extensive but targeted. From ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates by private employers, to public safety, border security, illegal immigration and education funding.
When it comes to education, one of the most controversial items on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's wish list during this special session has local school district leaders and lawmakers outraged.
SB 1, a school voucher bill that would set aside taxpayer dollars for parents to use on private schools, passed the Texas Senate on Thursday. While that bill still faces an uphill climb in the Texas House, local leaders in education want lawmakers to know where they stand.
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On Friday, a press conference hosted by the Texas House Democratic Caucus Special Committee on Education brought together at least nine North Texas state representatives alongside leaders from Dallas ISD, Frisco ISD and Plano ISD and representatives from the two unions representing teachers locally, Alliance-AFT and the Texas State Teachers Association/NEA.
“This makes no sense at all,” said Maxie Johnson, District 5 Trustee of the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees. “As our state representatives have said over and over – public funds belong in public schools.”
The special committee has been making noise across the state this week against private school vouchers, which they say could take precious dollars away from public schools.
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"Texas Republicans have once again sold out our kids' future to appease the billionaire class that keeps them in power. Choosing to defund our neighborhood schools will leave a generation of kids behind, further force good teachers out of the profession, and leave our classrooms to crumble - all in favor of funding unaccountable private schools that are empowered to refuse to serve our most vulnerable and underprivileged students. And when Texas Republicans choose to divert public funds for private interests - corruption is inevitable,” said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa in a statement.
He added, "Public dollars belong in public schools. Period. Corporate private school vouchers only exist to give handouts to wealthy families so their kids can keep attending private and religious schools - while working families foot the bill. The Republican Party of Texas has taken a disturbing step toward overturning our constitutionally-mandated education system that serves over five million Texas children.”
Teachers were the only state employees to not receive a raise in the regular session and new laws are requiring school districts to pay for extra security without much help from the state. Public schools also face challenges with teacher shortages, growing classroom sizes, and struggling testing scores since the pandemic.
But there is an interesting power move Abbott is trying to make right now. Just hours after the Senate approved the school voucher bill on Thursday, the governor said he would add teacher raises and public school funding to the special session agenda, only if the house passes this school choice bill. By law, special session agenda items can only be set by the governor alone.
The local chapter of the state teacher's union told NBC 5 they are not happy about Abbott’s ultimatum.
"The most precious resource that we have is our students. And for them to think it's OK to bully us into saying, ‘We'll give you what you want but... with these strings attached’ – it's not what we need nor is it anything that our voters want,” said Rena Honea, president of Alliance AFT, the largest union representing Dallas ISD employees.
Adding to Abbott’s power move, the Senate also passed SB 2, which would give teachers and school districts a drastic bump in pay and funding. However, Abbott stressed again that he would only sign that bill into law if the House passes the school voucher bill.
“Bottom line, teacher pay and retirement will be decreased due to decreased funding in public schools. Let us be very clear – school vouchers are a scam that divert precious tax dollars away from our neighborhood schools and into private schools who are unaccountable to taxpayers,” said Angela Davis, President of Region 19 of the Texas State Teachers Association.
On the flip side, supporters of the school voucher bill say it will open doors for low-income students. The bill would allocate $8,000 per family per year to use on private school tuition or other costs like tutoring.
Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick also voiced support in a statement and tweet to social media.
“The Texas Senate has passed school choice bills in 2015, 2017, and 2023. Sadly, each time, the bill died in the Texas House. During the regular session this year, the bill never received a floor vote in the Texas House,” he said. “Let me be abundantly clear: the Texas Senate will pass this bill over and over again until the Texas House passes it and sends it to Gov. Abbott's desk.”
There are about three weeks left in the special session, which by law, is only allowed to last 30 days. If the topics listed by Abbott are not accomplished, he has the power to call more special sessions.
House Democrats have indicated they do not plan to play ball on the voucher bill.
“Now, the fight to fund our public schools heads to the Texas House where our Democrats will fight like hell for every student, faculty member and school district,” said Hinojosa.
