School vouchers take center stage at Texas House committee hearing
AUSTIN, Texas - The dispute over school choice and school vouchers is back in the Texas Legislature.
A state House committee held a hearing on Monday and the timing caught the attention of school voucher critics.
Critics called out the Republican committee chair for scheduling an education hearing on the first day of school for many Texas teachers and parents.
The legislature failed to make a deal on school vouchers last session.
When lawmakers return in January, Gov. Abbott told FOX 4 he thinks he will have the votes to pass it.
Gov. Greg Abbott 'certain' school vouchers will pass
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has made passing school choice legislation a top priority. The governor sat down with FOX 4's Steven Dial to talk about where things stand after the primary election and says deals that were previously offered may now be off the table.
The debate has been about public funds for private education.
On Monday, lawmakers heard testimony from representatives in other states that have voucher programs.
A big point of contention was about if those states required private schools to accept all students; something private schools are not required to do in Texas.
Another issue was about funding and if it would cover the costs for students in all parts of the state.
"I am at the lowest tuition private school in Tarrant County and it's $11,000 a year. An $8,000 coupon for someone in Como, which is a low income district in Fort Worth, they can't go there because they need transportation, they need the free uniforms, they need the free school supplies. These vouchers, education savings accounts and whenever you guys complain about these low-income kids and that's who you are going to help, no you are not," said Hollie Plemons who lives in Tarrant County.
"It's not the parents' choice, it's not the kids' choice, it's the private schools' choice of who they take and who they don't take, and who they keep and don't keep," said Rep. Steve Allison (R-San Antonio).
The committee chair said this hearing was just to get information on the implementation of the program and how other states have made successes and failures.
Multiple people traveled from North Texas to testify at the hearing.
The filing window for the next session begins in November, so we might find out more specifics then about what will be in the proposal.