Texas House unveils its own 'school choice' legislation with House Bill 2, 3

The Texas House unveiled its competing vision for school funding and so-called "school choice."

Like the Texas Senate, the House calls for a cash incentive paid from taxes for families who want to switch their kids from public to private school.

However, unlike the Senate, the House tied the amount of that incentive to public school funding.

House Bill 2 would boost the amount of money that's infused into the state's public schools.

House Bill 3 is similar to legislation already passed by the Senate, allowing taxpayer dollars to be used for private school tuition.

What we know:

After school choice legislation sailed through the Texas Senate earlier this month, the Texas House unveiled its version on Thursday.

It’s being dubbed the "Texas Two Step" because House Bill 2 and House Bill 3 tackle education.

"The House is now in the game," said SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jilson. "There are lots of minor differences that will have to be ironed out between these two bills over the course of the coming weeks."

The Senate's proposal creates "educational savings accounts," taxpayer dollars that parents could use to pay for private school tuition and other expenses like textbooks and tutors.

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Texas Senate school voucher proposal gives families $10,000 for private school

Senate Bill 2 would provide education savings accounts from taxpayer money for families who are interested in private education over public — up to $10,000 a year per student. But not everyone is on board.

But the House takes it a step further.   

"What the Senate did is produce a voucher program that said little about funding public schools. They'd come to that later," said Jilson. "The House has tied those two things together, proposing an increase in the base funding per student."

House Bill 2 would increase the basic amount of money public schools receive per year and per child from a little more than $6,100 to nearly $6,400.

ESAs would be created under House Bill 3. But instead of the Senate's $10,000 figure for most students, the lower chamber's amount would be capped.

"The House has 85% of the per-student funding currently given to public schools," said Jilson "But that number is not defined. So we don't know what that 85% actually means in dollar amounts."

The backstory:

We've been here before.

School choice legislation has cleared the Senate in previous sessions, but it always died in the House.

"This is the sixth time we passed it," said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. "We never got a hearing for four times, and the fifth time, it failed. And so the new speaker says he'll pass it."     

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A public hearing is scheduled for Thursday on a bill that would increase teacher pay in Texas.

The issue is so important to Gov. Greg Abbott that he campaigned against opponents of it in the last primary and successfully ousted them from their seats.

What they're saying:

Political analysts like Jilson say they're closer than ever to passing it, but there will have to be some compromise.

"The Senate might have to give up some of what it wants, and Abbott may have to as well in order to get a bill," said Jilson. "Because you want to be sure you get a bill that you can expand in future sessions. You don't want to fail again."

Reacting to the proposed House Bills, Gov. Abbott said he’s "grateful" to the leadership in delivering a "truly universal school choice package."

What's next:

Jilson says even if the new bills pass, the program will be refined in future legislative sessions years down the line.

What we don't know:

It’s unclear when the House plans to debate and vote on the new bills.