Texas’ school voucher bill clears hurdle, heads to House floor

The Texas Public Education Committee voted 9-6 Thursday to advance amended school voucher legislation to the House floor — a significant step toward its final passage.

All Democrats on the committee voted against the voucher proposal, a top priority for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

If the current voucher and school funding proposals pass the House and receive the Senate’s blessing, they go to Abbott’s desk. The governor’s approval would mean some Texas students get $10,000 annually in tax money to subsidize their private school educations.

The governor and his GOP allies couch vouchers as a way to give parents more control over their kids’ educations, but Democrats and some rural Republicans warn the program will decimate already cash-strapped public school districts.

The Public Education Committee’s hearing was initially set for Tuesday. However, the vote was pushed back after proposed changes to House Bill 2, which would provide new public school funding, and Senate Bill 2, which would establish the voucher program, were submitted too late for lawmakers to adequately review them.

Under the changes to SB 2, Texas’ voucher program would be capped at $1 billion for the first two years, meaning lawmakers will be required to decide whether to increase the funding during the next legislative session. Additionally, the amended bill would prioritize vouchers going to families of four earning less than $156,000 and families with students with disabilities. As revised, the legislation sets aside 80% of available funding for families in those categories.

In the revised HB 2, the base amount of money each state school district would receive per student would increase by $395. Public-education advocates hope the funding increase can at least partially offset funding shortfalls caused as families pull kids from private campuses and use vouchers to send them to private ones.

In a video tweeted out Thursday, Abbott said he expects House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a fellow Republican, to bring the legislation up for a House vote in a matter of weeks.

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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.