Abbott Claims Deal Reached with House Leaders to Lift Voucher Blockade by Increasing Public School $$$$$

Governor Abbott announced today that he has reached a deal with House Speaker Dade Phelan and his House leadership — and with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — that could result in the Legislature passing a universal school choice bill during the current special session after all.

However, the Texas Tribune this afternoon, quoted a spokesperson for Phelan as saying that no actual deal had been reached with the governor, but that the speaker looked forward “to having robust discussions on school funding, teacher pay and other critical education issues with his House colleagues.”

Abbott also said in his announcement that he issued this proclamation that adds school finance to the list of topics that can be considered during the 30-day special session, which must end by Nov. 7. Abbott suggested that the additional school finance topics could result in billions more dollars for public education funding in the areas of teacher pay raises, school safety and special education.

• Note: Previously, Abbott had said he would add increasing public school funding for teacher raises and other items to the special session’s agenda only after the Legislature passed a voucher bill.

Abbott claimed that the broad outlines of the deal would incorporate the recommendations of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force, the Commission on Virtual Education and the Commission on Special Education Funding. Additionally, the deal calls for phasing out the STAAR assessments in favor of what was termed as an “improved assessment system,” Abbott said.

Meanwhile, students whose parents choose to participate would be eligible for about $10,400 per year in Education Savings Accounts (ESA) to fund private school tuition and other expenses in a program administered by an education organization overseen by the state Comptroller, Abbott added. All Texas students would be eligible to participate.

Abbott’s push for the Legislature to pass a private school choice plan thus far in the session resulted in the Senate passing a voucher bill (SB1-Creighton) and a public school funding bill (SB2-Creighton) that have stalled in the House.

A closely watched bill filed in the House (HB1-Buckley) combines private school vouchers with massive increases in public school funding, but had not (as of press time) advanced to the committee hearing stage for the stated reason that the governor had not yet added public school finance to the list of allowable topics to be considered during the special session.