School choice and school finance meeting postponed; will not be streamed
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Tuesday morning, members of the Texas House Committee on Public Education were set to meet to discuss two of the biggest bills of the session -- education savings accounts and school finance. Less than 10 hours before they convened, Chair Brad Buckley, R-Salado, postponed the meeting for Thursday morning.
"Throughout the House Public Education Committee's work on House Bill 2, I made a commitment to members that they would have ample time to review and digest the changes in the committee substitute and the district runs," Buckley said in a statement on X. "Due to the fact that the runs were received late this evening, I intend to honor my commitment to the members," he continued.
Possible issues funding public schools
District runs show legislators how much money the school districts they represent would get under the proposed public school finance bill, HB 2.
"There are Republicans and Democrats right now who are concerned about the school finance bill," Scott Braddock, editor at Quorum Report, said.
"We need another $1,340 per student just to deal with inflation since 2019," State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said. "This doesn't get us there in a time where our school district, our community is looking at school closures and cuts that would be devastating to communities, its very disappointing that it is so low."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website, Hinojosa's estimate is conservative. In June 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill to increase the per-student allotment to $6,160. BLS estimates that's now equivalent to $7673.62, meaning schools would need an extra $1,513.62 per student to catch up with inflation.
HB 2 would increase per-student funding by $220, and the new committee substitute, CSHB 2, would increase it by $395.
"I (think the number can go higher) but what I think is required is for Texans to call their state representatives and demand that they do better by our parents and by our teachers," State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, said.
No livestreaming
According to a representative from the House Committee on Education's office, the meeting to discuss CSHB 2 and CSSB 3 (the education savings account legislation) will not be livestreamed because it's a 'formal meeting' and not a 'public hearing.'
This comes after HB 3 kept the committee for over 22 hours, before they replaced it with CSSB 3.
"Even among members of the legislature there's some concern that this isn't being done in a transparent way," Braddock, who initially broke the news, said.
"These two bills will impact 5.5 million Texas schoolchildren and all 30 million Texans," Talarico said. "This should be done in the light of day."
"Whenever we're working on legislation that we're really excited about we let you all in to see what we're doing," Hinojosa said. "It tells me that maybe they don't feel that way about their own bill."
Education savings accounts in trouble?
Passing education savings account (ESA) legislation -- which would allow parents to use public money to help pay for private school -- has been a priority of Abbott for years.
"The Governor called four special legislative sessions in 2023 and couldn't get this private school voucher scam over the finish line," Talarico said. This postponement has given ESA opponents newfound hope that history may repeat itself, despite several Republican opponents losing primary elections to Abbott-backed challengers last year. "There is bipartisan opposition to taking money out of our private schools and giving that money to unaccountable private schools."
However, the supporters of ESA legislation believe they have the votes, with Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows assuring the legislation will pass at a joint press conference with Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week.
"We can fully fund public education and do school choice at the same time," Burrows said.