Governor Gregg Abbott has said repeatedly that vouchers was a high priority for him. He has traveled the state, visiting private schools, to promote them. His party controls both houses of the legislature. Voucher legislation passed in the Senate. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill barring vouchers by 86-52.
Edward McKinley of The Houston Chronicle reported:
The Texas House voted Thursday to restrict public funds from subsidizing private education, a major rebuke of Gov. Greg Abbott and the state Senate, which was expected to pass a so-called voucher program later in the day.
Although past efforts have fallen short in the House, voucher programs have received more support this year than ever before. Gov. Greg Abbott named them a priority in his State of the State address earlier this year, and he has toured the state calling for enaction. Abbott argues that parents are currently deprived of options for their children’s education, and he also says that public schools have become tools for progressive indoctrination.
The margin on Tuesday was 86 to 52. House Public Education Chair Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, attempted to prevent the chamber from voting on the measure at all, saying it was inappropriate considering that his committee plans to hold public hearings for several voucher policies next week.
“This process with this amendment turns things really in the wrong direction. It is the proverbial cart before the horse,” he said. In past sessions, Buckley has voted for the same amendment. If Buckley had been successful, it would have allowed the House to avoid any provocation of the governor or lieutenant governor.
Buckley’s effort failed by a seven-vote margin, with about a dozen Republicans joining the Democrats to stop it.
The House’s measure still needs approval from the Senate and from Abbott, and members could still decide to ultimately approve a voucher program later this session – but it proves there’s not a strong desire in the House to go on-record as supporting vouchers.
“These are public funds for public schools, as outlined and stated specifically in the Texas Constitution,” said Rep. Abel Herrero, a Robstown Democrat and the author of the amendment calling for the ban. Herrero has offered the same amendment in past sessions, where it has often won more than 100 votes.
In past years, the Herrero amendment has been opposed by the state Senate and ultimately stripped out during negotiations between the two chambers.
edward.mckinley@houstonchronicle.com
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank God! We don’t need public funds going to private schools & we need to stop spending money on Charters too. Ban high stakes testing bring back our public schools!
I wonder if anyone is keeping track of how many voucher bills have failed in each state and how often they keep repeatedly coming back in new packages with loads of dark money supporting their passage.
The utter disconnect. The arrogance of we-tell-you-what-you-want is on full display. The funny thing: Greg ABBOTT is government schools. Ron DESANTIS is government schools. What are they saying w/ they’re wanting to dismantle public schools stance that they’re in charge of?!
Once vouchers take root (or not?) & we have NO accountability through testing, etc., perhaps we can finally get the testing juggernaut off of OUR plates in the traditional public schools.
Kelley,
If Florida is a precursor, voucher schools take no tests, public schools still required to. An inducement to abandon the more successful public schools for third-rate voucher schools.
I was in Austin recently, walking around the Capitol grounds. I’ve been there a number of times in the past 30 years. After having seen about 35-40 state capitol buildings, it is by far the most beautiful in the nation. When the fading sunlight hits that pink granite, it’s just plain spectacular. The only capitol more impressive is that of the nation. But again, I succumb to the American disease, ranking two unquantifiable things that have their own intrinsic beauty. For those of you who know the area, you know how weird it is. An incredibly well thought out capitol area, with legislative offices underground to not obstruct the views of the building, the view covers up the anti-governing toxicity under its grounds. Standing near the southwest corner of the building, off to the right, is the throughly unimpressive looking governor’s mansion. The ugly white, painted brick wall takes up a block that doesn’t even have a sidewalk on the bordering main street, LaVaca. And both are generally surrounded by people they hate and try their best to disenfranchise as they benefit from the prosperity and diversity those people bring in to the state.
To the north is the University of Texas at Austin, truly one of the best universities in the nation and possibly the wealthiest when adding its endowment to state support. Dan Patrick and his cronies are doing their damnedest to kill higher education and replace it with targeted ideology indoctrination. To the south, right down the middle of the entrance, is South Congress St., which is the hub of what has made Austin the 11th largest metro area in the nation, is the arts district that started and pretty much still maintains the foundation of what makes Austin Austin. The arts the legislature down the street are trying to make Entartet, but with a Texas twang.
But the best lesson of Texas hypocrisy can be found at the base of the Capitol. Their monument to the confederacy didn’t get the exposure of those in New Orleans or Charlottesville, but it’s quite a relic. The front of the monument, with ole Jeff Davis facing west, is pretty much obscured by a tree that has obviously, intentionally not been trimmed in decades. But the back is quite visible if you take the time to look. The front states: “SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, Formed by Following States Withdrawing from the Union, South Carolina” and so on. On the back, the part most visible, it reads: “DIED, For States Rights, Guaranteed Under the Constitution, The people of the South, animated by the Spirit of 1776, to preserve their rights, withdrew from the federal compact in 1861. The North resorted to coercion, the South against overwhelming numbers and fought until exhausted…” The don’t want to get rid of it, they don’t want to draw attention to it, and it’s continued existence glares a light on the Texas capitol that loses much of the dawn and dusk luster the building experiences and is truly filled with and surrounded by historical rot.
The Texas Capitol is even more beautiful on the inside. A magnident dome.
Agree, have been there a few times. Just couldn’t bring myself to go in building. Armed guards with machine guns strapped across their chests and surly cops in SUVs driving around slowly as they glared at everyone made if very uninviting. Kind of like if the Vatican were in Mecca.
I was given a tour by an Austin Democrat.
Being an Austin Democrat must be what it feels like to be a vegan stuck at a bbq festival.
Austin’s unofficial slogan: Keep Austin Weird
Austin is a very blue city, although the barbecue is fantastic.
Austin is also the live music capital of the US, but Texans always say it’s the live music capital of the world.
Greg-
Beautiful description of the capitol -the Nebraska statehouse is also attractive. In today’s time period of Charles Koch influence, the capitol “buildings” would either be the plutocrats’ yachts or cheap bunkers in the ground.
April 13, 6:00-7:30 pm, Save Ohio Higher Ed #Stop SB 83
In hindsight, one of the biggest coups Charles Koch can claim is the public’s perception that the politicized religious right is made up of protestant evangelicals and not conservative Catholics. The religious right’s co-founder was conservative Catholic, Koch-funded Paul Weyrich, who also co-founded ALEC.
Two articles from 2013 (Slate, “Koch brothers pour money into anti-abortion agenda” and, Rewire News Group, “Anatomy of the War on Women: How the Koch Brothers …” , tells readers about the limited number of wins the anti-abortion campaign had, “until the Koch brothers entered the war”, after which a flurry of 200 restrictions on abortion were passed. Readers were advised in the Rewire article, that the Koch’s are aligned with, “Bible-Thumping social conservatives”, from which the public infers, protestant evangelicals. Both the states of Ohio (almost all top elected positions in Columbus are held by Republican Catholics) and Texas are specifically identified in the article as examples of anti-abortion success.
Last year, in Texas, two organizations were in the news (selective outlets). One was, reportedly, promoted by Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler Texas (according to Crisis Magazine). The name of it was Veritatis Splendor, a utopian megadevelopment for Catholic families in rural Winona, Texas. And, the other was a Catholic homeschool hybrid called Regina Caeli. Both were co-founded by Kari Beckman. American Conservative wrote about the Beckman intersection with the leadership of Texas Right to Life, “Adultery 1, Veritatis Splendor 0.”
The wife of Jim Graham, president of Right to Life Texas, was the organization’s VP. She has been described as prominent in Capitol influence.
Republican hypocrisy is not new. Effective proponents of legislation to advance the religious right who trot out the, “immortality of the secular world,” get exposed in msm, on occasion e.g. Jerry Falwell. There appears to be a media blackout for the more politically powerful religious sect whose church overtly discriminates against women. Media focuses its limited coverage on priest abuse which provides containment, deflecting from legislative lobbying.
There is no doubt that the sect’s extensive and effective involvement in advancing school choice is unknown to the public.