AUSTIN, Texas — Lt. Gov Dan Patrick has a goal. Ahead of the new session, he says Senate Bill 2 will be "school choice" legislation. School choice lets families use taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling.
While school choice legislation passed the Texas Senate last session, it did not make it through the House.
Now, Patrick hopes Gov. Greg Abbott declares it an emergency item this session.
He sat down with WFAA, KVUE's sister station in Dallas, saying he has the votes.
"I've been on this a long time. And we're going to pass a robust bill for all families because we believe that parents should have a choice where to send their child," Patrick said.
On Nov. 6, Abbott gathered support for school choice in Tyler, Texas, at Kingdom Life Academy, a privately-funded Christian school. The governor said public education and school choice are his priorities.
"We will also ensure that every parent has the right to choose the school that's best for their child by passing universal school choice in the state of Texas," Abbott said.
School choice has come with some controversy. Opponents argue the money should go to the Texas public school system, which they say is severely underfunded.
David DeMatthews is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin. He said school choice can negatively impact students.
"There's virtually no accountability, no standard, no requirements to have certified or certified special education teachers, no real auditing process," DeMatthews said.
"These schools, they open, they make a quick profit, they end up failing. They close," he added. "There's just been a variety of implementation issues in setting up these schools. And so, the students who end up using them, they fall significantly far behind."
Meanwhile, Patrick said school choice will not undermine public education.
"Thirty-nine billion for public ed last session, 500 million for school choice; 5.5 million kids, compared to about 50,000. That doesn't undermine anything. It just empowers parents," he said.
Patrick said the system will be set up through the comptroller's office. The money will then go towards whichever private school the parents choose.
But DeMatthews worries about the future of students in the classroom, with hopes leaders will focus on prioritizing public education.
"We see some common sense education policy in Texas and addressing those big issues with teachers, with educational psychologists, with school counselors, so that the public schools can actually do what they need to do," DeMatthews said.
The 89th Texas Legislative begins Jan. 14 and runs through June 2.