Feb. 7, 2025
This Week in Austin
- Governor Abbott gave legislators “emergency” items that include school vouchers, teacher pay, expanding career training options and property tax relief.
- The Texas Senate passed a voucher bill (Senate Bill 2) that allows public funds to pay for private schools.
Texas Senate Passes SB 2
● Senate Bill 2, the Senate’s voucher/Education Savings Account (ESA) bill passed out of the Senate on Wednesday (Feb. 5) evening after nearly eight hours of debate. (Read the SB 2 text here.)
● Only one Republican senator, Robert Nichols from Jacksonville, voted with all 11 Democrats against the bill. (Republicans voted in favor of the bill.) RISD senators Bob Hall and Tan Parker voted for the bill. RISD senator Nathan Johnson voted against the bill.
● Highlights of the SB 2 include:
- All students (public, private or home-schooled) are eligible to apply for the approximately 100,000 education scholarships. Should applications exceed that number, a lottery will be initiated where 80 percent of funds are prioritized for students from low-income households or with disabilities, and 20 percent will be awarded to any eligible student.
- $10,000 annually per pupil to fund accredited private school tuition, textbooks, transportation, and other expenses. Families of students with disabilities would receive $11,500 annually per pupil, and families with homeschooled students would receive $2,000 annually per pupil, $2,500 for a student with a disability.
- The program would start with the 2026-27 school year at a cost of $1 billion. By 2030, the Legislative Budget Board’s fiscal note shows that approximately $11 billion in taxpayer dollars will have been used to fund non-public/private schools.
The House of Representatives will now determine if/how the bill changes or if it goes to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.* This could take days or weeks.
*A voucher bill passed in the Senate four times in the last two years, but the Texas House has not supported the idea. With eight newly elected representatives, who were endorsed and supported by Governor Abbott, the House vote is expected to be different this year.
Governor Declares “Emergency” Items – Four of the seven items would impact public education
In what can only be designated by the governor, “emergency” items give the legislature permission to pass legislation before the constitutional 60-day waiting period to enact laws. In his State of the State address on Sunday, Feb. 3, Governor Abbott detailed his legislative priorities for this session and declared seven emergency items. Four items will impact public education if passed by the legislature include:
- teacher pay
- expanding career training
- school choice
- property tax relief
With each of the items, he detailed recommendations to achieve his goals. It’s up to the legislature now to address (or not) these emergency items. Both Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Burrows have stated the importance of passing legislation on property tax relief, teacher pay (Burrows-via funding public schools) and vouchers/school choice; but exactly how the two chambers will work out the details on these issues will be determined as the session progresses.
More information can be found here:
- Texas Governor’s website – State of the State Address text; teacher pay, expanding career training, school choice, property tax relief
- Texas Tribune: Greg Abbott State of the State Address
Next Week in Austin
- On Monday, Feb. 10, the Senate Finance meets to discuss funding public education (Article III in the state budget). We are hoping that increases to the basic allotment, special education, school safety and other important items will be considered ~ watch the hearing.
- Texas House Speaker will name committee chairmen and membership.
Remember
- It’s still early in the session, and many bills with significant impact to RISD have not even been filed yet. As this session progresses, keep reading these reports so you know when significant issues are coming up so you can contact your legislator to give them your input.
- Voucher/ESA bills were defeated in the Texas House four times in the last session (2023). However, many of the Republicans in the House who had voted against vouchers either retired or were defeated in their re-election. So, it is very likely that a voucher bill will pass in the House this session.
- We are closely watching other issues that are also important to RISD, like discipline, funding, school safety, special education, etc. (See RISD’s 2025 Legislative Positions here).
Legislative Corner will be published periodically throughout the 89th legislative session. For more information about RISD’s legislative involvement, please visit the legislative page here. Other resources include Texas Legislature Online (TLO) – find legislation (bills), committee hearings, legislative member info, and more; The Quorum Report – sign-up for “Daily Buzz” or a listing of political news articles; Texas Tribune – online daily news, also a data dashboard for education.
