With the Texas House and Senate at legislative standstill as it relates to legislation on school vouchers, Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation Tuesday, Oct. 31, expanding the agenda for the 88th Special Session #3 to include additional school finance. 

The governor's original call for the special session had been for legislation providing education savings accounts – better known as "vouchers" – for students attending alternatives to public schools, including private schools, homeschools, or charter schools. The expanded call includes additional public school funding for teacher pay raises, school safety, and special education. It also increases the ESA payments, compared to the most recently filed legislation, to $10,400 a year and provides universal eligibility. The apparent agreement between the Governor and House leadership also calls for the replacement of the STAAR test. 

Below is the statement from Governor Abbott: 

Working with Speaker Phelan and his House leadership team, the Speaker and I reached an agreement on school choice for Texas families, and I am expanding the agenda for Special Session #3. The legislation will create an Education Savings Accounts program with universal eligibility for all Texas schoolchildren and will be entirely voluntary for families and schools to participate. Participating students will be eligible for approximately $10,400 per year in their Education Savings Account, administered by an education organization overseen by the Texas Comptroller on behalf of the parents and students participating in the program. We will also provide billions more in public education funding to boost Texas' top-notch public school system, including teacher pay raises, while staying within the constitutional spending limit. This bill will codify recommendations made by the Teacher Vacancy Task Force, the Commission on Virtual Education, and the Commission on Special Education Funding. Importantly, the STAAR Test will be phased out to be replaced with an improved assessment system. 

This is the next step in the legislative process to deliver school choice to Texas parents and students who deserve the freedom to choose the education that best fits their learning needs. I look forward to working with both chambers of the Texas Legislature on getting this legislation to my desk to sign into law.

It is not yet clear how much in additional funding public schools might see; however, as a reminder, the basic per-student allotment for public schools is $6,160 and has not been raised since 2019, despite 17% inflation over that period. The proposed per-student annual allotment is $10,400, more than $4,000 per student more than what is currently being provided to public schools.