Texas teeters two votes from historic school choice victory
March 29, 2024
Texas is only two votes away from passing school choice. So says the governor, and he should know about these things:
Gov. Greg Abbott Says Texas is Two House Votes Away from Passing School Vouchers
Here’s the important thing though: This isn’t two sets of procedural votes away. Nor, sadly, is it persuading two current members of the House to vote for school choice. Everyone’s too deeply embedded in their views for anyone to change their minds now.
Which is, obviously, a problem. But as we’ve pointed out before about Texas, if the politicians won’t vote for what the people want then the people should change the politicians they vote for:
These are not small victories – these are longtime incumbents who have repeatedly opposed school choice. And according to one Texas superintendent, these six victories are enough to push the voucher bill over the finish line.
Well, we’re nearly there. Not quite, but nearly. And we’ve got the run off elections in those primaries just about to happen. So, Abbott:
Abbott declared that the school voucher movement was “on the threshold of success” after the March 5 primary. The election saw several anti-voucher Republican incumbents lose to pro-voucher challengers, putting pro-voucher members on the verge of a majority in the Texas House, the last legislative roadblock to the policy.
“We are now at 74 votes in favor of school choice in the state of Texas. Which is good, but 74 does not equal 76,” Abbott said, referring to the number of votes he needs to pass the bill into law. “We need two more votes.”
It’s taken at least 5 years to get to this point where Texas children – for of course the beneficiaries will be those children – are on that cusp of victory. It just needs two pro-choice to win their primaries and into the House to make it happen.
That’s obviously possible and should be achievable. So, let’s hope it does happen. As we say the true victors will be the children who ten enjoy better schools as a result of that school choice.
And we’d just highlight again the point. If the politicians we’ve got won’t do what’s right then we can all – and should all – vote for other politicians who will. That’s really the very heart of the entire argument in favor of democracy.