Senator Larry Taylor

The standstill on Texas school choice funding and public school financing came to a head in Austin late Wednesday when House Education Committee Chair Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood) made good on his promise to kill school choice, also knocking off public school financing since both were packed into the same piece of legislation, House Bill 21.

The Texas Senate passed school choice legislation, Senate Bill 3, that would establish education savings accounts and tax credit scholarship programs intended to expand K-12 options for children. The bill crossed the finish line in a final vote of 18-13 on Thursday with a few notable changes.

While President Donald Trump champions “school choice” on a national level and Governor Greg Abbott pledges to sign such a bill into law should one make it to his desk, some Texas homeschoolers question one piece of proposed school choice policy before the Legislature, Senate Bill 3.

While President Donald Trump called upon Congress this week to pass education legislation that funds school choice for low-income students nationwide, Texas House Education Committee Chairman Representative Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood) struck a blow to school choice, declaring it a “dead” issue in the state’s current legislative session.

The Texas State Senate has voted in favor a bill that would ban insurance coverage for abortion. The ban applies to private health insurance plans, including qualified plans offered through health benefit exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).