Texas Senate leader Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says his top policy priority for the upcoming legislative session is school choice, after multiple pro-school choice Texas House candidates won their seats.
“Since 2015, the Senate has passed school choice five times. It died in a Republican-controlled House each time. That is unacceptable and inexcusable,” Patrick wrote in a post-election statement. “With an expanded Republican majority in the Texas House, there is no reason Texas students should be left behind.”
During both the Primary Election and General Election, school choice played a key role in state legislative races.
Anti-school choice advocates incorrectly insisted that conservative candidates would lose their General Election races based on the issue.
One of the oldest anti-school choice groups in the state, Texas Parent PAC, endorsed 13 open-seat and contested races. They lost all but three of these elections, with two of three wins coming from Democrats backfilling Democrat open seats.
With the Election Day wins for education freedom advocates, Patrick declared school choice would be filed as Senate Bill 2, with Senate Bill 1 being reserved for the chamber’s constitutionally required budget.
“Thirty-two states, both Republican and Democrat, have enacted some form of school choice legislation. There is absolutely no reason why Texas children and parents should be left behind,” wrote Patrick. “A one-size-fits-all approach to education in a state with a population of 30 million, 254 counties, 1,200 school districts, and over 8,000 campuses simply cannot possibly meet the needs of every student.”
Patrick added that while many Texas schools are great, parents should be empowered to choose the best learning environment for their children, whether public or private.
“Texans across the political spectrum agree that parents must have options to choose the school that best fits the needs of their child to ensure their success,” Patrick wrote. “Voters have spoken clearly during the primary and general elections; the time for school choice in Texas is long overdue.”
According to Patrick, during the last session, the state legislature appropriated $39 billion per year on public education. The school choice bill that was passed three times in the Senate was for $500 million, however, it continually died in the House.
“The school choice fund was completely separate from public education funding. It would have provided for 60,000 students out of 5.5 million students in public schools,” explained Patrick.
Patrick is hoping that Gov. Greg Abbott will declare school choice as one of his emergency items this session. If he does, Patrick pledges he will ensure that “the Senate will take up and pass school choice in the early weeks of session, instead of having to wait 60 days until March.”
Abbott, meanwhile, declared after last week’s election that the House now has the votes needed to pass school choice.
However, House Speaker Dade Phelan could be an impediment to the cause.
The House stalled on school choice during the last session, giving the government education union leverage for a deal. However, instead of taking the deal—which included a limited version of school choice—they helped it fail.
Now, it is being reported that Phelan is staging a similar play for 2025 by setting up the table for the teacher’s union to kill school choice legislation.
The 89th Legislative Session is set to begin on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
