The House vote is the voucher bill’s biggest hurdle, and it will mark the first official test of whether Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies have built enough support.
DALLAS — Watch the full debate and possible Texas House vote on school vouchers on WFAA+ Wednesday, starting around 10 a.m. Don’t have WFAA+? Here’s how to download and install it on your TV.
This story was originally published by our content partners at The Texas Tribune.
The Texas House is expected to vote Wednesday on bills to create a $1 billion private school voucher program and give public schools more funding per student, setting up what could be a dramatic floor showdown over the two marquee education proposals of the session.
The House vote is the voucher bill’s biggest hurdle, and it will mark the first official test of whether Gov. Greg Abbott and his allies have built enough support in the lower chamber since a coalition of House Democrats and rural Republicans sank the previous voucher proposal in 2023.
While the Senate has reliably approved policies that would let families use tax dollars to pay for their children’s private schooling, such a proposal has never made it through the House. Supporters are optimistic, however, after more than a dozen anti-voucher Republicans last year lost their seats or chose to retire and were replaced by freshmen who support voucher policies. A narrow majority of 76 Republican members has signed on in support of the House’s voucher bill, just enough to pass the 150-member chamber.
If the House approves the voucher bill, it will head back to the Senate, which approved its own version of the program in early February. The two chambers would then hash out any differences between the measures in a closed-door conference committee.
The House is also set to consider its sweeping $8 billion proposal to boost public school funding by increasing the base amount of money districts receive for each student, raising teacher pay and overhauling how Texas funds special education. If passed, that bill would also go to the Senate, which has already passed several of its own priority school funding bills.
