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 House Bill 2, a sweeping school finance proposal, and Senate Bill 2, 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.
“We’re about to discuss last minute changes that have been made to the two biggest bills of the session — including the private school voucher bill which many of us are worried will defund our schools — and we are not live streaming that discussion for people across the state who can’t be here?” asked Talarico as the meeting began Thursday afternoon.
Committee chair Brad Buckley, a Salado Republican, responded that there is no requirement for formal meetings be live streamed (Most legislative hearings are streamed via the Texas Legislature’s website). In fact, Buckley pointed out they usually aren’t even held in front of the public or reporters.
“While formal meetings are often held in various locations around The Capitol, I’ve chosen to hold today’s meeting in a committee hearing room to ensure there is space for anyone who wishes to attend in person,” 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
Committee members discussed key changes made to HB 2 since the high-profile bill was originally filed. Those include upping the proposed increase to the state’s per-student funding from $220 to $395. That would bring what’s called the basic allotment — which hasn’t been increased since 2019 — 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 a major source of funding for the state’s public schools).
Additional changes included prioritizing pay increases for educators who have been teaching for 5 or more years.
“Too 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,” 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 Grow Your Own Program
- 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, “[move] away from a seat count to intensity of service model,” according to Buckley.
Committee Vice Chair and San Antonio Democrat Rep. Diego Bernal said that, while the bill has evolved quite a bit since it was originally introduced, he believes further improvements can still be made.
“We’ve talked about getting ourselves to full day Pre-K and for whatever reason, or a variety of reasons, we haven’t done it,” said Bernal.
Dallas Rep. John Bryant called the bill a “catastrophe” for 10 of the largest school districts in the state, which he said wouldn’t get the money they needed under this proposal.
Buckley said he is committed to fixing whatever issues exist. Ultimately, the committee 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.
Renee Dominguez
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KUT News
Changes to the Texas Senate’s school voucher bill
The committee also passed Senate Bill 2, Gov. Greg Abbott’s 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’s first two years. Also, after concerns that wealthy families could still participate in the program, that group’s 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.
Michael Minasi
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KUT News
Rep. Talarico led the debate against the proposal. He said that, while the House’s changes try to limit how many high earning families can participate in the program, it didn’t 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.
“If this plays out like I think it will,” responded Talarico, “You’re actually going to be taking the tax dollars of plumbers, and nurses, and working people and you’re going to be subsidizing the tuition of wealthy families.”
Talarico called the voucher bill a “transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top.”
Talarico asked that Buckley, the bill’s 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’t take long for Gov. Greg Abbott to celebrate.
“Texas is within reach of the largest school choice program launch in the nation,” said Abbott in a statement shortly after the vote. “The Texas House Committee on Public Education moved universal school choice one step closer to reaching my desk.” adding that looks forward to the, “swift passage in the Texas House and signing this bill into law.”
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