Two key pieces of education legislation cleared preliminary hurdles in the Texas House on Thursday, but not before sparking spirited debate among lawmakers, including complaints about a lack of transparency around the process.
The Texas House Public Education Committee passed , a sweeping school finance proposal, and , a measure that would create a $1 billion Education Savings Account program, which would allow parents to use public funds to pay for private schools. That school voucher initiative has been a key priority for Gov. Greg Abbott and other top Texas Republicans.
Transparency complaints stemmed from the fact that the meeting, which was held in the committee's normal hearing room, was not live streamed. Several Democrats on the committee, including Rep. James Talarico of Austin, said they believed the move was a disservice to the public.
鈥淲e鈥檙e about to discuss last minute changes that have been made to the two biggest bills of the session 鈥� including the private school voucher bill which many of us are worried will defund our schools 鈥� and we are not live streaming that discussion for people across the state who can鈥檛 be here?鈥� asked Talarico as the meeting began Thursday afternoon.
Committee chair , a Salado Republican, responded that there is no requirement for formal meetings be live streamed (Most legislative hearings are streamed via the ). In fact, Buckley pointed out they usually aren鈥檛 even held in front of the public or reporters.
鈥淲hile formal meetings are often held in various locations around The Capitol, I鈥檝e chosen to hold today鈥檚 meeting in a committee hearing room to ensure there is space for anyone who wishes to attend in person,鈥� said Buckley.
Talarico pressed the issue, but Buckley simply referred back to the fact that it is not a requirement.
Key changes made to the Texas school finance bill
discussed key changes made to HB 2 since the high-profile bill was originally filed. Those include upping the proposed increase to the state鈥檚 per-student funding from $220 to $395. That would bring what鈥檚 called 鈥� which hasn鈥檛 been increased since 2019 鈥� to $6,555.
Also added to the bill was a provision that would increase the basic allotment every two years based on growth in property values (In Texas, property taxes are for the state鈥檚 public schools).
Additional changes included prioritizing pay increases for educators who have been teaching for 5 or more years.
鈥淭oo often those dollars go to starting teacher pay, where teachers with experience of five years and ten years or so as they go up the ladder if you will, there is no ladder,鈥� said Buckley.
House Bill 2 also:
- Ensures no school district receives less than a $200 increase per student
- Adds Pre-K to the early education allotment, incentivizing full day pre-K offerings
- Increases an allotment to strengthen bilingual education by $450 million Strengthens the
- Provides a $1,000 stipend for districts to help teachers receive their certifications.
Other changes to the bill involved special education, including requiring the state to, 鈥淸move] away from a seat count to intensity of service model,鈥� according to Buckley.
Committee Vice Chair and San Antonio Democrat Rep. Diego Bernal said that, while quite a bit since it was originally introduced, he believes further improvements can still be made.
鈥淲e鈥檝e talked about getting ourselves to full day Pre-K and for whatever reason, or a variety of reasons, we haven鈥檛 done it,鈥� said Bernal.
Dallas Rep. John Bryant called the bill a 鈥渃atastrophe鈥� for 10 of the largest school districts in the state, which he said wouldn鈥檛 get the money they needed under this proposal.
Buckley said he is committed to fixing whatever issues exist. Ultimately, passed the bill, with Bryant and Rep. Alma Allen (D, Houston) being the only no votes. It now moves to the full Texas House for consideration.
Changes to the Texas Senate鈥檚 school voucher bill
The committee also passed Senate Bill 2, Gov. Greg Abbott鈥檚 number one priority this session. The legislation would create a $1 billion Education Savings Account program, which would allow parents to use state tax dollars towards subsidizing the cost of private school tuition for their child.
The bill is one of the most controversial proposals of this legislative session. It has seen strong pushback from Democrats and several rural Republicans, along with parents and some working in public school education.
The Texas Senate moved quickly on advancing the bill this session, passing it out of the chamber more than two months ago. Chairman Buckley started off discussion on the bill by detailing key changes that have been made since the committee last met.
Those changes include establishing a $1 billion cap for the program鈥檚 first two years. Also, after , that group鈥檚 participation has now been limited to 20% of the program's total budget. Other changes include prioritizing vouchers for current public school students and ensuring only legal residents can enter the program.
Rep. Talarico led the debate against the proposal. He said that, while the House鈥檚 changes try to limit how many high earning families can participate in the program, it didn鈥檛 go far enough. Talarico said, as the bill is currently written, millionaires could still qualify for public funds.
Buckley stressed the program was meant to provide choice for students from low and median-income families, who were not performing well in their local public school.
鈥淚f this plays out like I think it will,鈥� responded Talarico, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e actually going to be taking the tax dollars of plumbers, and nurses, and working people and you鈥檙e going to be subsidizing the tuition of wealthy families.鈥�
Talarico called the voucher bill a 鈥渢ransfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.鈥�
Talarico asked that Buckley, the bill鈥檚 sponsor, make changes to exclude wealthy families and focus on median and low-income families.
Still, the House Public Education Committee advanced the bill on a party line vote. It now heads to the full House for consideration.
It didn鈥檛 take long for Gov. Greg Abbott to celebrate.
鈥淭exas is within reach of the largest school choice program launch in the nation,鈥� said Abbott in a statement shortly after the vote. 鈥淭he Texas House Committee on Public Education moved universal school choice one step closer to reaching my desk.鈥� adding that looks forward to the, 鈥渟wift passage in the Texas House and signing this bill into law.鈥�
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