School voucher bill returns to Texas House floor with help from Gov. Abbott

 (Photo by Raychel Brightman/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

The Texas house takes up one of Governor Abbott's top legislative priorities with school vouchers tomorrow.

After failing in the last legislative session, school vouchers are back on the house floor and this time there's a high likelihood they will pass this time. 

Governor Greg Abbott made school vouchers his top priority and Democrats don't have the votes to stop it, but there are other tactics Democrats can take to show opposition by passing future legislation. 

Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2 are set to head to the House floor on Wednesday.

The bills address both school funding and school choice.

The senate bill funds $1 billion for so-called education savings accounts, which are taxpayer-funded incentives for people to switch from public to private schools.

If legislation passes. It will be the largest school voucher program in the country. 

Democrats don't have the votes to stop the bill from passing, but according to a Texas Tribune article, there is talk among Democrats of killing all constitutional amendments unless the house votes to put school vouchers on the ballot for voters in November. 

A move political expert Matthew Wilson says Republicans are not likely to go for because of factors like low voter turnout and there are no pressing constitutional amendments coming down the pipeline. 

What they're saying:

Wilson is a political expert with SMU and has followed Abbott's campaign after his school voucher bill died in the house during the last legislative session. 

"He made it his number one political priority to make sure that did not happen again. So he actively campaigned against multiple members of his own party who had opposed his school choice proposals last time, and he was largely successful," said Wilson.

The bill passed in the Senate, and it's in the hands of the House again, but this time Wilson says it looks like Abbott has the numbers in his favor. 

"He ended up replacing a fair number of anti-school choice, anti-voucher Republicans with those who supported the governor's vision. That's why it looks like he's got the numbers this time," said Wilson. "And so that's really where the leverage is. Republicans can pass this tomorrow, and there's nothing that Democrats can do to stop it. The only question is whether Democrats, in an expression of anger about that, gum up the works on other measures going forward that would require a constitutional amendment."  

What's next:

There is still the topic of what this means for public school funding as many districts are waiting to see what the legislature decides before voting on budgets. 

Now, if that is the democrats' tactic, and they get republicans to put school vouchers on the ballot. It's important to note that no voucher measure has survived the ballot in any other state. 

The house votes on school vouchers on Wednesday.