Special session ends without passages of education bills

The Texas House adjourned sine die Tuesday without taking up any education bills from the Senate, marking the end of a fourth special session in which legislation on school vouchers, teacher pay and school funding failed to reach Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.

Paige Williams, TCTA's director of legislation, told The Texas Tribune this week that advocates felt confident about defeating vouchers after speaking to rural Republican lawmakers throughout the past few months and confirming that most continued to oppose vouchers as they had during the regular session.

“We were thankful for the people who took a very hard public vote and who were willing to stand up and speak,” Williams said.

After the Legislature failed to approve significant increases in public school funding in this year’s regular session, despite a record budget surplus, many school districts were forced into deficit budgets to keep up with costs. Williams said this trend is likely to continue if schools have to wait until the 2025 regular session for another shot at additional funding. Click here to read more.

So far, Abbott has not said if or when he'll call a fifth special session, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told The Texas Tribune he thought one should take place in February ahead of the March primaries. Click here to read more.

The ongoing voucher fight and the need to increase funding for schools will make the March primaries more important than ever. Educators and other public education supporters will need to pay attention to candidates' positions on vouchers as they head to the polls.