HOUSTON — As lawmakers continue to slog through a third special session, it remains to be seen if Republicans can coalesce around a school voucher plan than can pass both chambers.
State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) says, even if Republicans increase funding for schools and give teachers a raise, Democrats still wouldn’t support vouchers.
“I think what Democrats have said, and I think a lot of Republicans who are a part of the coalition have said, is we will absolutely, in no way, shape or form open this door,” the Houston Democrat told us on Inside Texas Politics. “We will not crack Pandora’s box open just a hair.”
Wu says the state has already been underfunding the public education system for decades, so adding some money now won’t fix anything.
And he says it wouldn’t be a good trade for something he thinks would inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire system
“When you open the door to start yanking money out for this, then next time we’ll yank it out for that,” he said.
The Texas Senate has already passed its version of school vouchers.
SB 1 would give Texas parents up to $8,000 in taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.
A separate bill, SB 2, would provide billions to primarily be used for teacher raises, but it provides only a small increase in public school funding.
It remains unclear, though, whether this legislation can even pass since the Governor’s call for a special session didn’t include either priority, only addressing school vouchers. And the Texas constitution says lawmakers can only pass bills that are on a special session agenda. The Governor can modify that agenda at any time. And he recently said he would do just that, but only if the Texas Legislature passes vouchers.
In the Texas House, however, Democrats and a group of rural Republicans have successfully blocked school vouchers for years, including the regular session that kicked off 2023.
And Wu said he thinks that opposition will hold during the third special session.
Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, a San Antonio Democrat, recently joined Inside Texas Politics and told us
that if it becomes obvious school vouchers will pass, Democrats should work on compromise legislation because she doesn’t think vouchers would destroy public education.
Wu disagrees and used the Houston ISD as an example.
“Even a, like, one- or two-percent change in school populations has dramatic, multi-million dollar consequences for these schools. And it’s not just that. It’s also retired teachers. Whenever you have fewer students, you’re going to have fewer teachers. Fewer teachers mean fewer teachers paying into teachers’ retirement which is barely solvent right now,” he argued.