Texas House members do not act on school voucher bill, fourth special session may be needed
School choice bill fight may force new special session
Texas Governor Greg Abbott believes that he has made a deal that would allow a controversial school choice bill to pass the Texas House. Speaker Dade Phelan told the House to stand at ease until next week when the time in the special session is almost up.
AUSTIN, Texas - Details are limited on a Texas school choice agreement, but Governor Greg Abbott said he believes it will move forward. The House may not be so sure.
The House reconvened Wednesday night in the third special session, and did nothing.
Members were told to "stand at ease" until at least next week.
A lack of quorum ground house business to a halt earlier this week. On Wednesday, the House had the quorum, but almost no business was done.
"Do our rules require a quorum for us to do nothing?" asked State Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston).
"Sometimes that is correct, Mr. Dutton," replied House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont).
Phelan says the house will not reconvene until early next week, just a few days before the session ends.
It leaves an unclear future for Gov. Abbott's school voucher priority, which passed the Senate, but hasn't moved in the House.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Abbott told reporters he is confident that when lawmakers see the negotiated education plan they will be more likely to pass school vouchers.
"We are on track to ensure there will not be another special session. There is enough time to get everything done that we want to get done that needs to get done to avoid a special session," Gov. Abbott said.
After the Governor's remarks, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick put pressure on the House to pass the Senate's voucher legislation.
"There is simply no time to start over with a new House bill," the Lt. Gov. said in part.
Multiple North Texas superintendents still believe it is not a good idea.
Texas House members plan to accept the expanded special session resolution from Gov. Abbott.
As a way to finally push through his priority of school vouchers, Abbott is lumping in increased public school funding and teacher pay to convince rural Republicans and Democrats to pass an omnibus bill.
This has North Texas superintendents worried about the outcome.
"Hopeful, but still very concerned. Any bill that has vouchers attached to it is not worth supporting," Coppell ISD Superintendent Dr. Brad Hunt said.
Hunt and his fellow board members think public school funding and teacher pay increases should be the only focus, and it should not be paired up with other political agendas.
"That needs to be separate from any voucher bill. Our schools need to be funded, they truly do, but we don’t need to attach anything to vouchers just to get something through the legislature. To me, that is not the way to go," Hunt said.
The so-called "education savings accounts" would provide about $10,000 per student for parents to opt out of public school and enroll in private school instead, a sticking point for Republicans in areas where public schools are the only viable option.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says there's been a breakthrough on school choice bill
After months of deadlock, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said there's a breakthrough on the school voucher controversy.
While all details of this massive school funding plan are unknown to the public, Gov. Abbott told reporters in Austin he is confident his school voucher plan will pass.
"Candidly, most of the House members don't know all the full details. When they see all the details of what we've been able to put together, I think that rural Republicans, Democrats, others across the entire state, representatives and senators will realize this package really does address almost all concerns that have been raised by legislators," he said.
The governor could now be forced to call a fourth special session with the current session set to end next Thursday.