Texas Rep. Brad Buckley, chairman of the state’s House education committee, said he expects a voucher bill to pass in the next legislative session, shortly after a similar bill failed to pass this year. However, he also said the bill this time may present a limited version of the voucher program.
According to KERA News, Buckley said at a Dallas Regional Chamber State of Public education event that he supported having well-funded public schools and a voucher program that prioritizes kids from low-income families.
“And then every session the legislature will have the opportunity to evaluate the program that shows how kids are doing and we’ll be able to make those decisions as we go along,” he said
Buckely also said that, if the bill passes, public schools “will educate 95% of our kids, regardless,” and vouchers would allow the other 5% to use public dollars to pay for private schools.
“There are too many kids that aren’t doing well enough, and we need to make sure that they can,” he said. “There has never been a more important time for us to have every tool we can at our disposal, so that kids can enjoy the promise of this country.”
Last year, Buckley designed a package that included a voucher-like program and that would have raised the funding of public schools and teacher pay. However, 21 rural Republicans joined all Democrats to strip the voucher-like program from the package. The bill then died.
Rural Republicans and Democrats argued that a voucher program would have further defunded public schools in the state, particularly in rural areas. Many districts in the state already are facing huge shortfalls and are dealing with them with layoffs and cutting special education programs. These districts have long urged lawmakers to increase state funding, which has remained stagnant since 2019.
Despite this Gov. Greg Abbott has said he would not increase public education funding without a voucher-like program attached to it.
Passing vouchers has been a top priority for Abbott, who actively endorsed the primary opponent of Republicans who voted against vouchers. He managed to oust many of the rural Republicans who opposed this program and said he now has the numbers to pass vouchers the next legislative session.
However, the margin to pass vouchers is still narrow, and Democrats are hoping to flip some districts in the next election to block vouchers once again.
