AUSTIN, TEXAS — Senate Republicans just passed Senate Bill 2, an expensive, billionaire-backed private school voucher program that would divert taxpayer dollars from public schools to unaccountable private schools.
After a bipartisan coalition in the Texas House defeated Governor Abbott’s voucher scam last legislative session, the governor retaliated by holding new funding for our schools hostage. Now, countless school districts are cutting programs and closing schools due to budget shortfalls.
While the Texas Senate debated Senate Bill 2, Leander ISD announced that insufficient funding from the state is already forcing them to cut critical programs and over 200 positions like teachers and instructional staff. This follows recent announcements of school closures, including Eanes ISD in Austin, Lewisville ISD in Dallas-Fort Worth, Aldine ISD in Houston, El Paso ISD in El Paso, San Antonio ISD in San Antonio, and school districts in communities across the state.
**Linked here is an overview of the components of Senate Bill 2. **
**Reps. Alma Allen and James Talarico issued the following statement: **
“Senate Republicans just sold out the nearly 6 million Texas school children for the billionaire mega-donors who write $6 million checks. While schools across Texas are facing a dire funding crisis — cutting programs and closing campuses — Senate Republicans insulted students, teachers, and taxpayers by passing an expensive private school voucher scam as their first bill of the legislative session.
“Senate Bill 2 would divert precious tax dollars away from our underfunded neighborhood schools and into private schools that are unaccountable to taxpayers. This bill would give billionaires who already send their kids to private school a $10,000 annual discount — a $10,000 coupon paid for by the taxpayer and taken out of our neighborhood schools.”