February 3, 2025      5:27 PM
Abbott tells the Dallas Morning News he will veto any school voucher bill that is not universal
Gromer
Jeffers Jr.
has the
story in the DMN:
Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott insisted Monday that he would accept nothing less than
a robust, universal school choice voucher program, and he resisted calls to
join the plan with blanket increases in public school funding. As he did in
Sunday’s State of the State speech, Abbott committed to raising public teacher
pay, but on his terms and largely in the form of merit increases.
A
plan to allow families to use public dollars on private schools is the
centerpiece of his legislative agenda for the legislative session that ends in
June. Abbott said his success last year in using the primaries to oust House
Republicans who voted against school choice dictates that any plan approved by
lawmakers be universal and substantive.
“An
overwhelming majority of Texans want school choice,” Abbott said during an
interview in the Governor’s Mansion with The Dallas Morning News. “I won all of those races because the voters want school choice, so
now there’s no reason for us to ratchet back on what we’re going to do,
especially knowing full well that what we’re seeking to achieve here right now
is exactly what the voters of Texas want. Most important is what the parents
across the state of Texas want.”
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