Charter bill voted down on House floor, but may be revived

A charter school governance bill that is opposed by most education organizations, including TCTA, was on the House floor late Wednesday. The bill failed to pass, with an unofficial vote of 66-72 – but it may not be dead yet.

HB 1348 would require cities to consider charter schools as public schools for purposes related to zoning, property development, construction, and more. It would exempt charter schools from zoning restrictions in cities with a population under 20,000, and limits the ability of municipalities to restrict charter school locations based on community concerns.

The education community is concerned about the bill because of the lack of transparency with which many charter schools operate, with no elected governing board, no public meetings required, and no voter approval needed to spend public funds.

Thursday morning, Rep. John Raney moved to reconsider the vote by which HB 1348 failed, and the bill may come up again Thursday afternoon. We will update this post to reflect any additional action taken on the bill.