As tensions rise, a major education funding bill is declared dead.
Gambit linking voucher plan to funding backfires
AUSTIN — As political tensions rose in the Texas Capitol, a major education bill that drove a philosophical wedge between the legislative chambers this session was declared dead Wednesday, dashing hopes of infusing public schools with as much as $1.9 billion in additional funding and trashing an attempt to fix the state’s beleaguered school finance system.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick admitted defeat after the House resoundingly agreed to reject the Senate’s changes to the bill that would have created a school voucher system for children with disabilities.
“I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools,” said Patrick. “I was wrong. House Bill 21 is now dead.”
The apparent demise of the bill again put to rest Patrick’s biennial quest to create a voucher program allowing parents to subsi-
dize their children’s private school tuition using public school dollars, an issue he has championed as the “civil rights issue of our time.”
Patrick had danced around the suggestion earlier this year that he would take “hostage” the House’s plan to revise the state’s school funding formula to force the averse chamber to pass a voucher plan. When the House refused to consider the Senate’s voucher bill, Taylor and Patrick hijacked House Bill 21, adding a voucher plan limited to students with disabilities to the bill in hopes it would “break the logjam,” Patrick said.
Impassioned speech
Patrick and Taylor insisted the only way the House’s school funding bill would pass was if the school choice plan was included.
“I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools,” Patrick said in an emailed statement. ”I was wrong. House Bill 21 is now dead.”
House Public Education Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, who has a son with dyslexia, gave an impassioned speech on the House floor Wednesday, taking umbrage with the suggestion that he and the House care less for students with disabilities, citing additional money that the House included in the bill for students with dyslexia and another bill that created grants for schools serving students with autism.
The school funding bill would have added an estimated $1.9 billion for public education, an amount the Senate cut down to $500 million. HB 21 would have also cut recapture payments by property rich school districts to their poorer counterparts, helped dozens of school districts adjust to the loss of old funding streams and spend more money per student with dyslexia or learning English.
The attempt to change the state’s school funding formula was sparked by a Texas Supreme Court ruling last spring that found the funding formula flawed but constitutional.
The court, which has almost always been needed to mandate changes to funding system over the last few decades, urged the Legislature to revamp the formula on its own accord amid complaints that wealthy and poor school districts are treated differently.
With five days left until the Legislature adjourns May 29, lawmakers grew testy as they raced toward a midnight deadline to pass bills in both chambers. Shortly after 7 p.m., more than 40 House members marched to the Senate for a meeting with Patrick, who many have accused of holding up their bills until the House passes Senate priority bills on property-tax reform.
After the meeting ended, the House began passing Senate bills quickly on the local and consent calendar — as some House members in the group said their meeting with Senate leaders had been “productive.”
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, a House bill allowing volunteer EMS personnel to carry handguns was amended by the Senate to allow Texas’ 10 state mental hospitals to prohibit guns on their premises. An oversight two years ago by the Legislature allowed guns in those hospitals, stirring controversy amid fears that mentally ill patients might get access to firearms.
“There have been three incidents so far. We need to pass this bill,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, DAustin, who successfully amended House Bill 435. The amended bill was then approved unanimously.
Stem cell bill passes
After an emotional debate, the Senate also unanimously approved legislation that allow investigational stem cell treatments for patients with severe chronic diseases or terminal illnesses.
State Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, whose tearfilled plea led the House to pause a parliamentary fight two weeks ago and approve House Bill 810 just before a bill-passing deadline, was present for the vote. He said his wife could benefit from the therapy.
Springer gaveled the measure to approval, as tears flowed and lawmakers hugged in an unusual outpouring of emotion on the Senate floor.
On another hotly contested issue, a Democratic lawmaker managed to persuade the House to fight food-shaming in schools, although Rep. Helen Giddings had to amend a controversial school gun bill to do it.
The Dallas Democrat added her previously deceased bill to Senate Bill 1566, which allows school staff to keep a firearm stowed in their vehicle parked on school property. Her amendment, related because the bill deals with schools, requiring students continue to receive hot lunches at school for two weeks after their pre-paid meal cards are exhausted, instead of being shamed by being given a sandwich or cereal instead. The measure now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Meanwhile, the Senate voted unanimously for a bill attempting to fix the state’s child welfare system. House Bill 7 would streamline services, decrease trauma and protect vulnerable children while trying to help reunite them with their families, according to Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat.
“Reforming our child welfare system was one of our top priorities this session. I appreciate the nod from the Senate and I have every confidence that the governor will honor our work by signing this bill into law,” he said.