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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Despite his best efforts to get a school voucher program passed in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott is facing disappointment as state Republicans refuse to support the legislation, even after Abbott forced them back to work to get the job done.
Abbott and the Texas House of Representatives remain at an impasse over the governor's top legislative priority two-and-a-half weeks into the third special session. Legislators were forced to return to the state Capitol on October 9 with Abbott's orders to pass his education savings account, a program that would give parents educational tax dollars to send their children to private or religious schools instead of public school.
Now, a united Democratic coalition and 24 rural Republican holdouts are causing a problem for the governor. The House revealed a limited voucher program last week that would also boost public education, but Abbott has called it "insufficient," requesting a standalone bill instead.
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Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office via email for comment.
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Abbott, who has framed the policy as "school choice" for Texas parents and families, has been steadfast in his goal, threatening to call a fourth special legislative session and to endorse other Republican candidates who would support his efforts. The current special session will end November 7.
"There's an easy way to get it done, and there's a hard way," Abbott said at a town hall last month, according to the Texas Observer. "If we do not win in that first special session, we will have another special special session and we'll come back again. And then if we don't win that time ... We will have everything teed up in a way where we will be giving voters in a primary a choice."
Yet two dozen state Republicans representing rural areas in Texas are putting up a fight, raising concerns that the program would take away money from the public school systems that their communities heavily rely on.
"I think there is still significant opposition to any school finance bill that includes an ESA," Representative Drew Darby told the Texas Tribune. "I'm comfortable we have enough like-minded rural Republicans, and urban Republicans, to stand against that in numbers sufficient to defeat it."
Opponents of school voucher programs and educational savings accounts argue that those policies reduce enrollment in public school and public-school funding, threatening the quality of education that students who attend public schools receive.
The push for school choice expansion gained momentum during the COVID pandemic when most schools moved teaching online. The so-called "parents' choice" movement was born as many families grew frustrated with school policies and curriculums.
Abbott has said that he would consider increased funding for public schools separately, but the Texas Legislature hasn't boosted per-student public school funding since 2019. The state Senate in May refused to use Texas' $33 billion budget surplus to increase funding without a school voucher program, leaving many public school districts to begin this school year in a deficit.
"It was a universal ESA or nothing," Republican state Representative Ken King said in a May 27 statement. "I am committed to protecting the 5.5 million school kids in Texas from being used as political hostages. What the Governor and the Senate [have] done is inexcusable, and I stand ready to set it right and continue to work for the best outcome for our students and schools."
Abbott repeatedly pushed for an education savings account during the regular legislative session, but the House twice rejected those proposals.
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