The Texas House Committee on Public Education is set to take up their most anticipated bill of the session this week: school vouchers.
What the governor calls 鈥渟chool choice鈥� or 鈥渆ducation savings accounts,鈥� this bill would allocate public dollars to send some Texas students to private schools or pay for other education-related expenses.
The Senate already early in the session and the House hearing on Tuesday is expected to draw lengthy debate from both sides of the issue during the public comment.
Blaise Gainey, who covers the statehouse for the Texas Newsroom, said he expects the meeting to be packed.
鈥淭he Texas Freedom Network, that same day, is hosting a rally outside the Capitol. So my guess is it鈥檚 going to be a lot of people,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e probably going to hear testimony and the meeting is probably going to last from morning until afternoon. It could go into late night.鈥�
Newly elected House speaker, Dustin Burrows, has publicly committed to passing this bill. Historically, there鈥檚 been reluctance in the lower chamber to do so 鈥� with rural Republicans siding with Democrats to thwart previous efforts.
Gainey said he doesn鈥檛 expect we will know how the bill will fare in the House by the end of the meeting tomorrow.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know if they鈥檒l vote on it tomorrow,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ast week, when the House heard the school funding measure, they just listened to people for two days and didn鈥檛 vote on the bill. My guess is we could see something similar here.
We could see them take it up and vote on it by 2 p.m. But my guess is, with the attention that this bill has gotten, that they鈥檒l want to hear from people and not just seem like they鈥檙e rushing this one through.鈥�
The House version of the bill is also different from the Senate version, so if this bill is passed the two chambers will have to iron out those differences before sending it to the governor鈥檚 desk.
鈥�(The House version) is a lot different in the fact that the way that students get these education savings accounts is staggered differently. So first is kids with disabilities, they get priority over any other kid. And then it鈥檚 kids with low income and then I believe it opens up to all kids,鈥� Gainey said.
鈥淪o it鈥檚 interesting. But also the funding is different for it. The way that it gets funded is it鈥檚 a percentage of what kids would get if they were going to public school.鈥�
However, Gainey said it鈥檚 not as simple as students getting less money under the House version of the bill, since it depends on the student.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still a little confusing looking at the formulas in the House bill. 85% of what the students get for attending public schools, they鈥檒l get in order to go to a private school, and kids with disabilities actually will get up to $30,000 a year,鈥� Gainey said.
鈥淪o there is more money in certain instances. So it鈥檚 a little too early to say which plan would get more money for which kid.鈥�
If the committee doesn鈥檛 vote on the bill Tuesday, members might chose to do so Thursday, which would clear the way for the full House to vote on the legislation next week.
鈥淭hat would allow them the chance to pass both the school funding and the school choice bill all together,鈥� Gainey said.
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