Senate passes school voucher bill

The Senate convened at noon Feb. 5, 2025, to adopt a handful of resolutions and, most importantly, to debate SB 2, the Senate’s school voucher bill, on the Senate floor. Opening up discussion, Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) said that passage of the bill was a foregone conclusion, but hoped that a robust discussion would put some things on the record for posterity.

The bill’s author, Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Montgomery), painted a picture of a new frontier in education with the implementation of education savings accounts, or ESAs, that provide $10,000 of state funds per student ($11,500 for students with disabilities) to subsidize the costs of private schooling. He cited research from other states' ESA programs and anecdotes of constituents to support the legislation. Other Republican senators asked him questions, but most of them were posed in a way that gave Creighton more opportunities to praise the bill. Some of his Republican colleagues offered amendments and they were adopted on party lines.

Democratic senators were more direct and sought to expose weaknesses in the bill and proposed amendments that would make the program more equitable and accountable. All of their amendments failed on party lines. 

Once all amendments were considered, the senators passed the bill 19-12, with Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) being the only dissenting Republican. The House will now consider the bill, but without committee assignments announced, it will be a while until that hearing takes place.

TCTA will keep you updated on the journey of SB 2 through the Capitol.