AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday made good on his vow to summon lawmakers back into a second overtime meeting this fall, issuing a call for another special legislative session on school choice, teacher pay and border security.
The latest session was scheduled to begin Tuesday evening, soon after the Senate would join the House in finally adjourning the year’s third.
“There is more work to be done,” Abbott said in a news release.
Lawmakers must “complete their critical work to empower Texas parents to choose the best education pathway for their child while providing billions more in funding for Texas public schools and continuing to boost safety measures in schools,” he said.
Also, Abbott asked for passage of two bills that would “enhance the safety of all Texans by increasing funding for strategic border barriers and mirroring the federal immigration laws President Joe Biden refuses to enforce.”
After lawmakers deadlocked over education savings accounts, or ESAs, and allowing state and local police to detain and expel undocumented immigrants, the year’s third special session lasted the full 30 days allowed for a special session.
On Tuesday, even though Republican infighting was largely responsible, Democrats celebrated blockage of the school choice and border security measures.
At a news conference, House Democratic Caucus leaders said their members would stand firm against ESAs in the fourth special session — and anticipate few if any defections among rural Republicans who have long opposed any voucherlike program.
San Antonio Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, the caucus’ chief, accused Abbott of “gubernatorial obstinance” in pursuing school choice.
The House rejected a Senate-passed ESA proposal during the regular, 140-day session that ended in May and again in the just-completed special session.
“We can’t get work done in 140 days, we’ve got to have constant special sessions to deal with one issue and it’s very simple — Gov. Abbott’s failing, right?” Martinez Fischer said.
“Republicans and Democrats a long time ago said we are not going to support vouchers. We’re not going to be bribed [or] have our arms twisted. No is no. And nothing has changed.”
Abbott spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Finish line
On Tuesday, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said he hopes the bill establishing ESAs and boosting schools’ funding finally gets across the finish line in the fourth special session.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Phelan said he is encouraging members to “vote their districts” and that it would be a “roller coaster” when the bill was debated on the House floor.
House Republicans supporting school choice said they see positive developments that could help produce a win.
The House moved quickly on Tuesday evening to introduce a bill creating ESAs, now that Abbott has relented to the chamber’s demand that school choice be paired with higher teacher compensation, more school funding generally and an overhaul of Texas’ academic accountability program.
A House hearing on the bill was expected to be scheduled for Thursday.
Wichita Falls GOP Rep. James Frank, a member of the 15-member Select Committee on Educational Opportunity & Enrichment that will take testimony on the bill, called it “a better, cleaner piece of legislation” than House leaders previously put forward.
“It is not just an ESA,” Frank said.
“It also has a lot of school funding, it has accountability changes,” he said, referring to evaluations of schools’ academic performance.
“There are a lot of things in there for schools to like,” Frank said. “There’s a lot of things in there for parents to like, for teachers to like. A lot of the teacher vacancy task force recommendations are in there. Virtual [education] is in there. It’s 176 pages, but it’s a lot of very, very well-thought-out policy.”
Martinez Fischer, the Democratic leader, was asked about the possibility that lawmakers could — depending on how long the fourth session lasts — break the record for how many days in a calendar year they’re in session.
“They’re starting early,” he said, referring to House GOP leaders, “because members are frustrated. People want to be home. This is a part-time legislative position. We have families … we have jobs. There’s a level of frustration here that is shared by both sides of the aisle.”
Strained relations
Frank, the ESA supporter, downplayed concerns that relations between the House and Senate may be too strained for lawmakers to reach compromises.
For weeks, Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate’s presiding officer, have attacked each other in press releases and social media posts.
“I would love for the discussions between chambers to be going better,” Frank said. “But I’m hopeful that basically we will put policy over either politics or personalities.”
For a generation, the House has stopped all voucherlike programs proposed, as Democrats joined rural Republicans in rejecting them as a threat to adequate funding of traditional public schools.
On Tuesday, Austin Reps. Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico, co-chairs of the House Democratic Caucus’ education panel, called ESAs an unwise and unjust use of public funds for affluent families choosing private schools.
The bill’s increase in the “basic allotment,” or main component of state aid to schools, pales against the need, said Hinojosa, a former Austin school board president.
“The bill that’s been offered, the voucher bill that has some money in it for our public schools, doesn’t even get us to 2019 buying power,” she said.
Talarico, who once taught middle school in a poor neighborhood in San Antonio, called House GOP leaders’ ESA program a windfall for certain Texans who don’t need help.
“Under this bill, if you’re a wealthy CEO, sending your two kids to an elite private high school, you’re going to get $80,000 in taxpayer funds. That’s enough to buy a new Mercedes. This is welfare for the wealthy.”
Frank, though, said all the parents he’s spoken with in his district support school choice, with only school district leaders and employees urging him to vote against.
“The only pushback I get on this is from the schools,” he said. “So ultimately it is … just kind of being held hostage by the schools and then the money is being held hostage. That’s part of the negotiating process.”
