A voucher bill has passed the Texas House and has already passed the Texas Senate. The bill gives public dollars to private schools.
Spokespeople available for additional comments or interviews in both English and Spanish at request
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2025
CONTACT: Emily Witt (she/her), emily@tfn.org
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House early this morning approved Senate Bill 2, a measure that creates a school voucher program using taxpayer dollars to help cover private and religious school tuition. The legislation was passed by the Senate in February. The vote follows weeks of public opposition from parents, educators, and community leaders across the state, including hours of public testimony against another voucher bill, House Bill 3, which was left pending in committee in March.
During the floor debate, legislators introduced 44 amendments. Amendment 3, brought by Representative James Talarico, proposed an amendment referendum that would’ve allowed Texans to vote on school vouchers at the ballot box in November. The Republican-led Texas House voted to table all 44 amendments and never returned to address them, including Amendment 3, effectively rejecting this opportunity to let voters decide on the issue.
Texas Freedom Network Executive Director Felicia Martin (she/her/ella) issued the following response:
“Lawmakers just sent a clear message: they’re choosing political ambition over Texas kids. This voucher scheme is a direct attack on our shared public education system and the families that rely on it, designed to siphon funds into private schools that are unaccountable to taxpayers and free to discriminate against students.
“Time and again, Texans have said no to vouchers — parents, teachers, students, and even local conservative leaders. But Governor Abbott and his allies chose to ignore them and push their agenda anyway. This bill doesn’t help kids, it helps politicians. TFN and our allies are in this fight until we see a Texas where every child — no matter the color of their skin, zip code, how much money their family makes, what they believe, or if they or their family are LGBTQIA+ — has access to a high-quality public education. We’re not going to forget who turned their backs on millions of Texas kids.”
Senate Bill 2 now advances to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk for final consideration.
