Texas House education panel advances school voucher, funding bills (2025)

A Senate bill that would create a $1 billion school voucher program is set for an expected heated debate on the Texas House floor after the lower chamber's Committee on Public Education advanced the proposal along party lines Thursday.

The GOP-controlled committee also advancedHouse Bill 2, the chamber's $7.6 billion education funding package, which would increase base-level funding per student by $395 — up from $6,160 to $6,555.

School vouchers, a program that would allow students to use public money to pay for private school tuition, has become a hot-button issue in recent years and has pitted Republicans against one another. Gov. Greg Abbott made "school choice" his signature issue, declaring it an emergency item, and has expended tremendous political capital into supporting a voucher program. Proponents say school vouchers would offer parents more education options for their children, while opponents insist that such a program would divert much needed funding from public schools.

The House Public Education Committee on Thursday potentially shortened the runway for a voucher program to make it to Abbott’s desk by advancing a revised version of the Senate’s proposal, Senate Bill 2, instead of the House's own plan, House Bill 3.

HB 3, authored by Rep. Brad Buckley, a Republican from Salado who chairs the House Public Education Committee, has 75 co-sponsors in the 150-member chamber — all Republicans — just enough to clear a majority if they all voted in favor of that proposal. HB 3 is pending in committee.

TheSenate passed its school voucher proposalFeb. 5, about three weeks after the start of the legislative session.

SB 2 and HB 2

Democratic members on the House committee, which has nine Republicans and six Democrats, renewed their opposition to a voucher bill Thursday.

Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, insisted that SB 2 doesn’t prevent private schools from turning away students based on their religion, disability or other factors.

“This bill expands the opportunity to discriminate against our kids who need a special education and who are disabled,” Hinojosa said.

As lawmakers debated SB 2 inside the Capitol, educators from across Texas were rallying outside, calling for increased public school funding and teacher pay.

Yolanda Graham, a parent of two children from the Dallas area, held an enlarged version of the state's constitutional guidelines on education.

“We made a promise to make sure that children have the knowledge that they need,” Graham said.

She wants lawmakers to provide enough funding for schools to pay for teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff in her children’s Cedar Hill schools.

“We need to make sure that our administrators don’t have to make difficult decisions about the supports we need in the building,” Graham said.

Buckley told the American-Statesman that he plans to bring HB 2 and SB 2 to the House floor for consideration during the same week, though a date has not yet been set.

The version of SB 2 the House committee advanced was a revised version of the Senate's voucher plan, with changes made to more closely align it with the House's proposal.

For example, the House program would prioritize children with special education needs in families at or below 500% of thefederal poverty line— about $160,000 for a family of four. Then, it would prioritize children from all families at 200% of the federal poverty line — about $64,000 for a family of four. Children in other income brackets would be placed in other tiers of priority.

The Senate's plan had far fewer restrictions, with priority placed generally on students receiving special education services and families below 500% of the poverty line.

A formal meeting

The committee's vote to advance SB 2 came after members debated about the fact that the meeting wasn't being livestreamed. It was labeled as a formal meeting, which is typically a gathering in which the committee will vote out a bill and doesn’t take public testimony.

Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, insisted that, since committee members were having a robust discussion about the education proposals, the meeting should be livestreamed.

“I just think it’s disingenuous to say that we’re going by typical House rules or typical House procedures because this is not typical,” Talarico said.

Buckley, who chairs the committee, maintained that the panel was following the chamber's rules.

“We're acting within House policies,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas House committee advances school voucher, education funding bills