The Texas Legislature Is Unsure on What to Do Next After the Fallout from School Vouchers!

By Pennie Spruill On Nov 28, 2023

Vouchers didn’t have a clear way to move forward after Friday’s final vote. Gov. Greg Abbott had threatened lawmakers with more special meetings if they didn’t pass the plan. Now, he seems to be focusing on punishing people who are against vouchers in the primary elections next year.

Texas lawmakers are going home for Thanksgiving, but Gov. Greg Abbott’s yearly push for school vouchers is still uncertain because the House turned it down on Friday in the most direct vote on the issue yet. Both chambers quickly gaveled in and out on Tuesday, saying they would meet again on Monday.

The House passed 84–63 on Friday to take a voucher program out of a broad education bill. What happens next at the Capitol is not clear. When Abbott lost, he said he would “continue advancing school choice in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot box.” He hasn’t said if he wants lawmakers to keep trying during the current special session, which can last until December 6, or if he will call a fifth special session to try again to get credits.

An Abbott spokesperson for this story said, “Texas parents deserve the freedom to choose the education path that is best for their child to succeed.” “Gov. Abbott has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to give all Texas families that freedom through school choice.”

Monday, Abbott started to focus on the primary season by endorsing for reelection 58 House Republicans who were against the change made by state Rep. John Raney, R-Bryan, that took vouchers out of House Bill 1. Other lawmakers who agree with Abbott on this issue, like U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, have also said since Friday that they are now focusing on their own campaigns.

People from both parties who were against the vouchers thought that Friday’s vote would be enough to end Abbott’s campaign against them, which began during his 2022 reelection campaign. To make his point clear, Rep. Four Price, R-Amarillo, led the House in passing a move to stop any further discussion of Raney’s amendment.

“It’s time to change the subject,” Raney wrote on Twitter after the event. Other Republicans in the House were sad about what happened on Friday, especially since the amendment’s approval probably killed the whole bill, which includes more money for public schools and higher pay for teachers.

Abbott had made it clear that he would veto the bill if the voucher clause wasn’t in it. State Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, wrote on Facebook Sunday, “I don’t know whether the Governor will call us back for a 5th special session or not.” “In any case, I look forward to the next time I can give teachers the much-needed pay raises, our local schools the extra money they need, and parents the choice of which school system they think is best for their child.”

Before the vote on the amendment, Gov. Geg Abbott brought up the idea that he might call lawmakers back for another special session if they got rid of the voucher clause. He said that he “would just have to veto it and we would start all over again” if the Senate agreed to the change.

Abbott said, “We’d be here in December, maybe in January, maybe in February.” But Abbott hasn’t made that threat again since Friday, and neither leader of either chamber has said anything about their plans for the rest of the special session. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is the leader of the Senate, said in a long statement on Tuesday that the House and its leader, House Speaker Dade Phelan, have “killed school choice.”

This suggests that Patrick doesn’t think the idea will be brought up again any time soon. The Senate sent two House ideas about school safety to its Education Committee during its short meeting Tuesday morning. But the committee didn’t set up meetings on the bills right away, and it’s still unclear whether the plans will go any further.

Monday at 12:30 p.m., the Senate will be back, and Monday at 4 p.m., the House will be back. The House was having trouble keeping a quorum even before HB 1 got to the floor. It looked like politicians were getting busy with other things and weren’t interested in going to Austin unless they knew that important bills were going to be debated there.

The fourth special session happened at the same time as the period for filing candidates for the March primary, which began on November 11 and ends on December 11. Lawmakers are busy finalizing their political plans as other lawmakers leave and other elected positions open up. Abbott has said for a long time that he will politically go after GOP lawmakers who try to stop his voucher campaign.

Fans saw the support he made public on Monday as the first step in that direction. Some Republicans who agree with Abbott think it’s time for primary voters to have their say. As a result of the Raney proposal, State Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) wants to see a lot of people leave the House. Toth said, “Many of us are so set on this that we’re going to break caucus rules and support primary challengers.”