Rural House Rethuglicans have tentatively halfway caved on school vouchers, passing a combo bill of vouchers-lite vs the Senate Bill 1, plus public school aid lite vs SB 2, that Strangeabbott has already rejected. I don't get the House on this. A piddly increase in the state allotment, a moderate raise on teacher pay and no additional funding for school security (something else private schools don't have to do at all). HB 1 does have things modestly better on the vouchers than SB 1, but nothing big. HB 1 IS much better than the Senate bill in one way: it bars Abbott, under guise of the Legislative Budget Board, from engaging in budget thievery like he's used to fund Operation Lone Star. If that's not in a final bill, assuming the House caves on vouchers otherwise, it will be a big cave indeed.
I said tentatively, above, because as of the end of last week, the bill had just been filed. No committee hearings, let alone committee or full House votes. It's a kind of placeholder bill, open to being Christmas-treed all to hell.
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