Despite being soundly thrashed in the just-concluded special Legislative session, school vouchers have rematerialized, zombie like, for yet another special session — the fourth.
“After we successfully blocked his scam school voucher bill in the Texas House last week, Abbott has called yet another special session to pass his deceptive agenda at the behest of his billionaire donors,” charged state Representative Vikki Goodwin, HD-47.
Yes, the foul odor of recycled ideas had barely dissipated when Gov Greg Abbott chose to recycle them yet again.
BTW, each 30-day special session costs about $1.2 million (1,2).
Goodwin further pointed out, “Once again, Abbott is wasting taxpayer time and money catering to the extremists that fund his campaign rather than accepting that the people of Texas don't want his fraudulent voucher plan that would steal state funding from public education in favor of private schools.”
Voucher bill approved by House committee
HB1, this session’s voucher vehicle, unfortunately passed out of the House Select Committee one Educational Opportunity and Enrichment. The measure passed on a 10-4 party-line vote (3).
The legislation now goes to the House Calendars Committee, which is responsible for routing bills to the floor for votes in the full chamber (3).
Precedent setting
According to the Texas Tribune, no governor has ever called a fourth special session during the same year as the regular session, “underscoring,” the newspaper reported, “the gridlock Gov Greg Abbott has faced this year.” (1)
Links:
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/08/texas-legislature-fourth-special-session/#:~:text=Special%20sessions%20also%20are%20not,salary%20of%20%247%2C200%20a%20year
Like a zombie, vouchers should be DOA dead on arrival!