With Fig-Leaf Amendments Attached, Voucher Bills Head to Senate Floor

With Fig-Leaf Amendments Attached, Voucher Bills Head to Senate Floor:  On April 11, 2013 a bare five-member majority of the Senate Education Committee approved two voucher bills with fig-leaf amendments attached that fail to camouflage what these bills would do—divert public funds to private schools unaccountable to taxpayers. SB 23 by Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) is a tax-credit voucher bill that would reward companies with a tax break for funneling money to private schools in the form of “scholarships.” The main “fig leaf” for SB 23 took the form of an amendment by Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) limiting voucher eligibility to students both at risk of dropping out and with family income up to double the maximum level for reduced-price school lunches (e.g., up to $87,136 for a family of four).

SB 115 by Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), providing taxpayer-funded vouchers without commensurate accountability for students with disabilities, also was adorned by Sen. Lucio with fig-leaf amendments before it received the same five-vote majority support as SB 23. In this case the amendments include requiring notice to parents that they forfeit safeguards under federal law for students with disabilities when they move their child to a private school via this voucher scheme. Another Lucio amendment says the voucher school must agree to abide by a student’s individualized education program, but how that would be enforced is unclear. Lucio also amended the bill’s non-discrimination language to add a student’s income status or status as an ESL (English as a Second Language) student to the list of impermissible grounds of discrimination.

The five Senate Education Committee members who voted for these bills were:  Sen. Patrick, Sen. Lucio, Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), Sen. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney), and Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood). Absent on both votes were the other four members of the committee:  Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D- San Antonio), and Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas).

Though now out of committee, SB 23 and SB 115 still can be blocked on the Senate floor, where each of these voucher bills will need a two-thirds majority vote to be considered. You can help reinforce resistance to voucher schemes in all guises by sending an e-letter from the Texas AFT Web site.