The most significant seems to be an amendment (which passed 103-43) that effectively prevents the Senator Patrick's school voucher - or "scholarship" - proposal from being enacted. Here's info from Quorum Report on that:
On a vote of 103 to 43, the House voted to approve an amendment by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-CorpusChristi, that says public money must be used for funding of public schools. The amendment to the budget says money that flows through the TEA cannot flow to private institutions.
At the back mic, Rep. Ron Simmons and others argued that the amendment would block any further discussion of “school choice” legislation that has been pushed by Sen. Dan Patrick and other conservative lawmakers. Herrero said that his amendment was not meant to shut down any debate whatsoever, but he wanted to make it clear that public dollars should go to public schools. Herrero also said on the floor that he considers the tax credits of the kind Sen. Patrick has pushed to be a diversion of public money for private schools.
Rep. Debbie Riddle asked Herrero if families in need who have children in failing schools should be able to get funding to send their kids to other, private schools. Herrero argued that he had no intention of keeping people from making those decisions, but he wanted to ensure tax dollars are kept in public education.
Reaction from both sides in the education debate was swift
.
A clearly agitated Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans tweeted: “Um... I think 103 members of the Texas House just voted against any kind of parental choice in education.” Meantime, Phillip Martin atProgress Texas said "After ten years of neglect, our public education is a real priority for over 2/3 of the Texas House. The House is ready to fully invest in education, and the Tea Party needs to get out of the way."
Some helpful links:
- Behind the Scenes of the Budget Battle.
- House Members Expecting Day Long Budget Fight.
- A Voucher Showdown During House Budget Debate.
