Under normal circumstances, the Texas Legislature is a wild and weird place. But ‘Private School Voucher Day’ at the Texas Capitol truly took the cake, from far-right conservatives offering amendments that would have increased the basic allotment by more than $1,000 to one Democrat arguing against transparency and accountability for charter schools.
President Trump himself entered the conversation with a wild phone call to Texas House Republicans demanding they pass Gov. Greg Abbott’s voucher scam. And Rep. Gene Wu tried to rename the voucher bill the ‘SCAM Act: Siphoning Classroom Assets for Millionaires Act,’ for which we applaud his chutzpah.
By 2 a.m. Thursday morning, the House had passed a school funding bill and Abbott’s long-awaited private school voucher. Yesterday was far from a banner day for public education, but there were glimmers of good news, including our first Educator’s Bill of Rights victory!
Public school supporters gathered in the Capitol rotunda ahead of votes on House Bill 2 and House Bill 3. Their chants to fund public schools and reject vouchers rung throughout the building.
Texas House Offers Modest School Funding Increase
The Texas House of Representatives gave initial approval to House Bill 2, its attempt at a school finance bill. Both the process and the substance of the bill left much to be desired. Members were only given hard copies of financial runs of how the bill would affect their districts two nights before the debate, and the public was left entirely in the dark about the implications for their local schools. We would have hoped for better leadership on this specific issue from newly empowered committee vice-chairs, but instead, Texans were once again left without transparency.
Despite hours and hours of public testimony begging for more resources for chronically funding schools, House Public Education Chairman Brad Buckley, the bill’s author, landed on only a $395 per-student increase in the basic allotment, which, when adjusted for inflation, doesn’t even bring funding back to where it was in 2019 when lawmakers last passed a school finance bill.
In summary, HB 2:
- Includes a $395 per-student increase to the basic allotment (we needed $1,386 to match inflation since 2019)
- Raises the amount of a basic allotment increase that must go to staff raises from 30% to 40% & corrects the exclusion of counselors, nurses, and librarians
- Puts more money into the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a distressing development as this pay-for-performance system equates student success to deeply flawed standardized tests and leaves teachers and staff in non-tested subjects out in the cold
- Funds full-day pre-K (exceptional work by Rep. Salman Bhojani on an Educator’s Bill of Rights priority!)
- Targeted investments into special education for transportation, SPED support staff, IEP evaluations, and more
We’re thankful for state representatives like John Bryant, Gina Hinojosa, Alma Allen, and James Talarico for their strident advocacy for more dollars and for their transparency in urging legislators and communities to be given the information they need about the implications of this bill for their schools. We also thank Rep. Joe Moody for killing off an insulting amendment that would have essentially prohibited a salary increase if an educator was a union member.
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo said this, “With the first increase to their base state funding since 2019, our public schools can breathe a small sigh of relief. Emphasis on the small. The per-student funding increase is far below what is needed to make our schools whole, and I urge lawmakers to use their remaining time in session to reallocate funds wherever they can to remedy this fact.”
Retiree Plus member Wayne Stalworth and Northeast Houston AFT member Jenelle Millon, a National Board Certified teacher, delivered nearly 4,000 letters from educators, parents, and public school supporters to legislative offices Tuesday. The message of each: fund public schools and reject voucher scams.
Thank you to thousands of AFT members and public education supporters across Texas for calling, emailing, texting, and delivering letters to legislators across the Capitol. It was your advocacy that helped us achieve significant wins on funding for full-day pre-K, special education, and any increase to the basic allotment at all.
Educators made their voices heard in this debate, and it mattered. Four years ago, few people were talking about the basic allotment or educator raises or the plight of paraprofessionals or the critical relationship between pre-K-12 and higher education and its effect on student outcomes. But you talked about it … over and over and over again. And though the increase in school funding isn’t everything we need, our collective efforts are the reason it exists at all.
Greg Abbott Pays Off Donors With Voucher Scam
Credit: www.littlesis.org
What happened on Wednesday at the Capitol once again proves that Texas is awash in dark money seeking to influence public education. This dark money represents political and business agendas working to undermine our public schools in order to advance privatization and vouchers. This week, they won a victory, not for the low-income parents that they purport to stand up for, but for millionaires and billionaires who are pushing a nefarious agenda through buying political power across Texas.
We must not let anyone forget that Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass has donated a significant amount to Gov. Abbott’s campaign, primarily in support of Abbott’s school voucher initiative. To date, he has given the governor at least $12.25 million on this voucher quest. That money fueled primary challenges to anti-voucher Republicans last year, unseating enough of them to make this week’s vote possible.
Everything that happened in Texas this week can be explained by the above. Politicians who were bought and paid for repaid their campaign debts to millionaire and billionaire donors. Kudos to Rep. John Bucy for offering an amendment to the voucher bill that would have banned millionaires and billionaires from benefitting from the program; it was defeated on party lines.
On Wednesday night, after the passage of funding bill HB 2, the House took up Senate Bill 2 (subbed in for House Bill 3), a private school voucher scam that would spend upwards of $7 billion over the next budget biennium to subsidize private school education according to its fiscal note. There was a lengthy debate about whether to send the issue to voters, and we’re thankful again for leaders like Rep. James Talarico for carrying a bipartisan amendment that would have allowed voters to weigh in on the enactment of the private school voucher program in the November election.
But in a stunning display of contempt for everyday Texans, Abbott pressured legislators like Rep. Jeff Barry and threatened both their legislative priorities and future primary elections if any of them supported a public referendum. A staggering 90% of Texans believe this decision belongs in the hands of voters, yet lawmakers couldn’t muster the courage to face democratic accountability.
Veteran educator and long-time lawmaker Rep. Alma Allen said it well on the House floor: “After 40 years as an educator and years in this House, I’ve never seen such blatant disrespect for both our schools and our democracy. The people of Texas deserve better than politicians who silence their voices.”
Read the statement from President Zeph Capo
They also deserve better than legislation that diverts money from their public schools at a time of budgetary crises for districts and educators across the state.
Amid his questioning of bill author Buckley, Talarico underscored this point: “Texas teachers pay more for school supplies out of their own pocket than any other teachers in the country and the money allocated in this bill could wipe out those bills for teachers.”
We extend special thanks on behalf of our members to the following representatives who all attempted to improve the bill with safeguards, accountability mechanisms, and fiscal conservativism around the use of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, all of the amendments were defeated on party-line votes as Buckley shamefully motioned to table each successive amendment.
- Rep. Chris Turner
- Rep. John Bucy
- Rep. Erin Zwiener
- Rep. Jolanda Jones
- Rep. Mihaela Plesa
- Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer
- Rep. Ron Reynolds
- Rep. Erin Gamez
- Rep. Jessica González
- Rep. Lauren Simmons
- Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez
- Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos
- Rep. Gene Wu
- Rep. Armando Walle
- Rep. Penny Morales Shaw
- Rep. Toni Rose
- Rep. Vikki Goodwin
- Rep. Vincent Perez
- Rep. Donna Howard
Earlier today, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick recommended Sen. Creighton, author of SB 2 on the Senate side, concur with the House changes and push the bill to the Governor to sign.
House Public Education Committee: Good Bills on Support Staff Pay, Teacher Training Requirements
On April 15, the House Public Education Committee convened to deliberate on several education-related bills. While no bills advanced out of committee, the hearing underscored significant advocacy efforts and highlighted critical issues affecting Texas educators and students. Some of these bills included:
- HB 1411 by Rep. Alma Allen would allow certain public school employees — specifically, non-exempt staff whose pay isn’t annualized — to use up to two personal leave days per year for compensation on school holidays when they would otherwise be unpaid. This measure aims to provide financial relief to hourly school employees during scheduled breaks.
- HB 1773 by Rep. Salman Bhojani: is a student-led initiative that would allow school district boards of trustees to create a nonvoting student trustee position on the board. The student trustee would have the right to attend and participate in open meetings but would be restricted from voting on matters, making motions, or seconding them. While this bill was authored by Bhojani, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) have been lobbying for this legislation since the 88th legislative session.
One of our members from Northeast Houston AFT, Jenelle Million, traveled to Austin to testify in support of HB 2107 by Rep. Caroline Fairly. This bill seeks to grant school districts and open-enrollment charter schools the flexibility to require specific educator training every other year instead of annually. This adjustment could alleviate training burdens while maintaining educational standards. Check out her testimony here:
These discussions mark progress toward realizing the goals outlined in the Educator’s Bill of Rights. Each hearing, testimony, and proposed bill contributes to a broader movement advocating for improved working conditions, fair compensation, and enhanced support for educators and students. By actively engaging in the legislative process, we continue to build momentum toward creating a more equitable and thriving public education system in Texas.
Senate Education Committee: Further Attempts to Silence Educators, Undermine Schools
This week, the Senate Education K-16 Committee moved forward with a slate of bills that threaten to undermine Texas public schools, silence educators, and inject far-right political agendas into K-12 and higher education. Texas AFT has been tracking these proposals closely and sounding the alarm on their dangerous implications. Several were heard in committee this week, though thankfully, none were voted out by the committee yet.
- SB 1395 by Sen. Bob Hall would radically change the makeup of school health advisory councils by requiring that a majority of members be handpicked parents with no professional connection to the district; educators and administrators would be stripped of voting rights. This bill directly sidelines the expertise of the very people trained to support student wellness and health curriculum. If passed, it would open the door to politically motivated interference in decisions that should be guided by science and the needs of students. The bill was heard Tuesday and left pending, but its advancement remains a serious concern.
- SB 2233 by Sen. Adam Hinojosa is a deeply troubling bill that would require public colleges and universities to expel or fire anyone found to “support terrorist activity,” while offering no clear legal definition of what that even means. In practice, this bill risks targeting student activism and campus free speech under vague and politically charged language. Institutions would be required to report accused individuals to the Department of Homeland Security, raising civil liberties concerns. Though the bill wasn’t voted out, the fact that it was given serious time in committee underscores legislators’ willingness to prioritize surveillance over student rights.
- SB 1581 by Sen. César Blanco purports to prevent conflicts of interest by banning school board trustees from working in their districts for a year after serving. But in reality, it punishes civic-minded individuals, often former educators, who step up to serve their communities. Like the others, the bill was left pending.
The committee also heard three more bills that target higher education under the guise of “free speech” and “religious freedom.”
- SB 2972 by Sen. Brandon Creighton seeks to protect so-called expressive activity but could open the door to harassment under the name of free speech.
- SB 1069 by Sen. Mayes Middleton offers vague protections for religious expression but lacks safeguards against discrimination cloaked as faith-based speech.
- SB 2683 by Sen. Bryan Hughes would bar student groups from receiving funding if they’re linked to organizations that state leaders label as “foreign adversaries,” a sweeping, ill-defined category that could silence advocacy and strip resources from student organizations.
We strongly oppose all six of these bills. While none were voted out of committee this week, the conversations in the room made it clear that some lawmakers are more interested in culture war theatrics than the real needs of Texas students and educators. These bills would weaken the voices of educators, open public institutions to political interference, and chip away at student rights in the classroom and on campus.
We will continue to fight against these measures and push for legislation that supports students, respects educators, and strengthens — not sabotages — public education in Texas.