In his years-long fight to pass a school voucher proposal, Governor Greg Abbott announced an early triumph.
On Wednesday, he claimed to have 79 votes, three more than the 76 required for the House to approve the law.
Abbott claimed that families in those House districts supported and desired school choice, which is why those candidates won.
Abbott ran a campaign against Republican lawmakers during the primary election, accusing them of being responsible for the rejection of his proposal to redirect public funds to private schools. Abbott took to the internet to celebrate his victory, saying that all of the candidates he supported won the general election for the Texas House.
Rep. Mihaela Plesa stated, “The fact that the governor of Texas is incapable of performing basic math is just further evidence of the importance of public education.”
Plesa defeated her Abbott-appointed opponent, making her one of the few Democrats to do so. Abbott’s vote total, in her opinion, will be useless.
He has significantly reduced the Texas Legislature’s Republican caucus’s intelligence. About thirty new freshmen are scheduled to join us. These folks won’t even know how to pass or scrub a bill, let alone where the restroom is. Democrats in Texas have long been on the defensive. Plesa stated, “We know how to ensure that the bad bills are killed on the House floor.”
Democrats and rural Republicans united in their vote to oppose the school voucher proposals last year, but according to one political scientist, that might not be enough this time.
Because the governor had orchestrated an effort against them, the lawmakers watched as eight or ten of their fellow lawmakers lost in the primaries. Those that survived then say, “Oh my God, I’m there,” after seeing that. However, by God’s grace, I should act better,” said political science professor Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University.
Public school leaders who oppose the governor’s plan are in a difficult position because public school districts have battled for the last five years without receiving any additional funds.
Bruce Gearing, the superintendent of Leander ISD, stated, “What we do is further degrade the ability for public schools to do that job well when we start taking public dollars and giving them to private entities.”
If school vouchers are successful, Abbott pledged to completely fund public education this year.
“The truth is that we can have both school choice and the best public schools in America at the same time. Pitting one against the other is incorrect, and it doesn’t have to be one or the other,” Abbott stated.
On Monday, lawmakers can start filing bills. The timing of a school voucher law is uncertain.