Abbott Signs SB 2, Establishing Vouchers in Texas

Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday afternoon celebrated a monumental political victory by signing Senate Bill 2 into law, officially creating the nation’s largest program to subsidize private school tuition with public money.

Under a bright sunny sky, hundreds of supporters and advocates gathered at the governor’s mansion for the occasion, joined by the House and Senate leaders that helped to orchestrate its passage through the Legislature.

“I am signing this law that will ensure Texas families, whose children can no longer be served by the public school assigned to them, have the choice to take their money and find the school that is right for them,” said Abbott in a prepared statement on Saturday. “…Today is a historic day, where we come together at the Governor’s Mansion to proudly deliver school choice for Texans.”

Abbott and supporters have framed the bill as offering parents school choice, though even some supporters of a voucher program have dismissed that language, noting that parents in the U.S. already can choose whether to enroll their children in public schools, private schools or charter schools.

It’s a victory for which Abbott has long hungered, backed by national donors and party leaders alike. The governor endured a humiliating repudiation of the policy last session, when it failed to pass after he announced that the measure had enough votes to become law. Much of that defeat was the product of resistance from many rural Republicans, whose constituents wouldn’t have access to private schools, and bitter fights over the parallel issue of public school funding, which school districts and teachers for years had urged the Legislature to boost.

Among the lawmakers flanking Abbott during Saturday’s proceedings were House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock; House Public Education Committee Chair Brad Buckley, R-Salado; Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; and Senate Public Education Committee Chair Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe.