The Texas Senate officially passed a bill on Wednesday that will allocate $1 billion for education savings accounts, meaning the bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives for discussion.
Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), provides students in the state with at least $10,000 that can be used to pay tuition at private schools, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
State senators discussed the bill for hours before taking a vote, which was heavily based on party lines, and decided to move the legislation forward with a 19-12 vote, according to CBS News.
The passing of this bill through the Texas Senate comes as no surprise due to the heavy Republican majority, with GOP Senators being in favor of school choice at a much higher rate than their Democrat counterparts.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released a statement after the bill was passed, saying his “goal and passion has been to improve public education in Texas and provide great education options for all students.”
“In addition to supporting a robust public education system, which should be the finest in the country, I support SB 2 because I strongly believe that parents deserve choice in their child’s education. SB 2 is a universal school choice bill, with a strong focus on special needs students and students in failing schools,” he added.
SB 2 will now be sent forward to the House of Representatives for discussion and a potential vote, though it remains unclear whether the chamber will once again shut down the hope for school choice.
Previous proposals regarding school choice have been shut down by the House recently, including multiple bills being rejected during the 88th legislation despite Gov. Greg Abbott prioritizing the topic.
As Patrick noted in his statement about SB 2, the House has shut down the previous five attempts to pass a bill that would implement education savings accounts in the Lone Star State.
Although there is some speculation about whether SB 2 will be passed by the House of Representatives, there is belief that the Republicans’ goal will be accomplished due to the 88-62 majority in the chamber.
The House has yet to pass its own version of this bill, but the budget from the chamber last month did set aside $1 billion to be used on an eventual school choice bill, according to Houston Public Media.