Abbott’s school voucher plan now has more than enough support
DALLAS - Gov. Greg Abbott is ready to push his school voucher plan again. This time, he has a lot more support.
The Texas governor is celebrating the fact that every candidate he backed in the Texas House general election won.
For him, the vote count for 2024 adds up to a victory in 2025 for school choice.
"So, counting what I call only true hard core school choice proponents, there are 79 votes in favor in the Texas House. It takes 76 votes to get it passed," said Gov. Abbott.
Abbott said there are now more than enough votes to pass school choice in Texas, allowing taxpayer dollars to help parents pay for private school tuition.
"Our job as Texas leaders is to make sure that we're going to provide the most effective pathway options for every child in our state to be able to achieve the education that's going to be best for them and to allow their parents to be able to make that decision," said Abbott.
While Republicans held a majority in the Texas Legislature before this election cycle, many rural Republicans and Democrats banded together to vote against Abbott’s plan during the last session.
"I made sure that we would elect Republicans to the Texas House of Representatives in sufficient numbers to be able to pass a school choice plan. Just like the Texas Senate has passed many times. With the results that came in last night, there was a tidal wave of support for those House candidates that I supported. And we have more than enough members of the Texas House of Representatives elected last night, to make sure that school choice is going to pass," Abbott said.
"As some people have debated the issue of the past session, over the past decade, they make it sound like you can't have both school choice and robust public schools. That's completely false. The reality is, we can have the best public schools in America and also have school choice at the very same time, it does not have to be one of the other, and it's wrong to pit one against the other."
READ MORE: Texas Governor Greg Abbott to hold school choice news conference on Wednesday
Round Rock Democrat James Talarico admits the public education coalition they formed did lose key players.
"I call vouchers a scam, because just like any scam, they sound good until you read the fine print," said Rep. Talarico.
The anti-voucher voting block may be fractured, but Talarico is not waving a white flag.
"Not at all. We didn't lose all of them. Despite the onslaught of big money and big lies into these Republican districts. You still had Pro-public education Republican legislators survive and are coming back to the Capitol this session," said Rep. Talarico.
Polls have shown there is support in Texas for some type of school choice. That support is typically associated with the idea of school tax dollars following the child. Talarico notes that the Bills files in the past do not do that.
"I support school choice too. You know, I think we need more choice in our public school system. We need more academies. We need more early college high schools. We need more magnet programs. One size doesn't fit all, and we've got to have more choice. We've got to have more flexibility. But that is not the same thing as giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to unaccountable private institutions with no strings attached," said Rep. Talarico.
Some type of compromise is expected to be pitched, but Talarico told FOX 7 he would never support a voucher scam.
"If my colleagues in the House, Republicans and Democrats, if we can all agree that we need to fully fund our neighborhood public schools, then I will work with anyone to make that a reality," said Talarico.
READ MORE: Senate balance of power: Republicans win majority
In the Texas House District 80 race, former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin declared victory over his Democratic opponent. District 80 borders Mexico. McLaughlin will be the first Republican to represent that district in more than 20 years.
In Corpus Christi, Republican Denise Villalobos flipped Texas House District 34. That gives Republicans control of at least 88 of the 150 seats in the Texas House.
In the Texas Senate, Republican Adam Hinojosa is beating incumbent Democrat Morgan Lamantia with over 95% of the votes counted. It’s the only battleground of the upper chamber.
The governor didn’t provide hard details, except to say, the school choice plan he wants will not take money directly away from public education. He expects lawmakers to create a separate budget item to fund the program.
In Arizona and Florida, school choice plans there reportedly cost a billion dollars a year.