The long-awaited meeting of Texas House lawmakers, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was cancelled late Monday night.
The Texas House Public Education Board was to win two of the session’s biggest bills: House Bill 2, which deals with public school funding, and Senate Bill 2, which creates an education savings account program. That voucher plan would provide public funding for parents to send their children to private schools.
ESA has been a top priority for Governor Greg Abbott since 2023. The Senate has already passed SB 2, and house speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) believes his room will do the same soon.
“Early next week, the House Public Education Board hopes to pass both the bill from the ED Committee, the School Finance Bill and the Universal Comprehensive School Choice Bill,” Burrows said at a press conference. “And it’s on the floor right away and then it goes through.”
A cancellation on Tuesday means it won’t happen early in the week, but Burrows was originally expected – most speaker predictions could come true.
Committee Chairman Brad Buckley (R. Salado) issued a statement late Monday night that announced the cancellation, adding that the meeting will be promoted on Thursday.
Buckley said the move comes from a commitment to members that “there is plenty of time to review and digest changes in committee substitution and district operations.”
These “executions” are Parliament, speaking for fiscal analysis. In this case, Ran details how Texas school districts will be affected by changes to school funding bills. The run was not available to lawmakers until 10pm on Monday. However, due to late hours, most members did not receive them until the house met on the floor on Tuesday morning.
At the first hearing on the bill in early March, House Public Education Democrats thought the data was needed so they could understand how the bill would affect the areas they represent.
Rep. John Bryant (D-Dallas) is one of the lawmakers. He told the Texas newsroom that if the information is unavailable, there will be no votes.
“I can’t imagine going to vote tomorrow without knowing exactly what the impact on individual school districts will be,” Bryant said Monday.
Buckley has now moved the meeting to Thursday. Also on the agenda of the meeting is the school voucher bill that gives parents money to send their children to private schools.
Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) told the Texas newsroom that she hopes Republicans will insert some language into SB 2 from the family’s own voucher proposal when the committee meets later this week.
“That doesn’t matter, it’s just a name,” Hinojosa said. “It’s still a house version of the bill moving the House process.”
