- Lt. Governor Dan Patrick praised his relationship with Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and said the legislature is on the cusp of “the greatest session in Texas History”
- Abbott, Patrick, and Burrows all sought to dispel myths that school choice would harm public schools
- Abbott also criticized projections from the Legislative Budget Board about the cost of school choice legislation
Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows appeared together yesterday for a press conference to highlight the importance of school choice legislation. Also featured at the press conference was former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who signed a school choice program into law during his tenure in office.
As noted by Governor Abbott in his remarks, the press conference was the first time that the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the Texas House had held a joint press conference since 2019.
While some have sought to paint a divide between the Texas House and Texas Senate or portray the Texas House as insufficiently conservative, Lt. Governor Patrick praised his relationship with Speaker Burrows. He also indicated that the legislature was on the verge of having “the greatest session in Texas history.
“I want to share with you that I think we’re on the cusp of actually the greatest session in Texas history. I’ve never had a better working relationship with the Speaker. We’re aligned on so many issues. I know as his first year, it’s taken him a few extra weeks to get his feet on the ground and get set up. But I expect to see a flurry of great bills, including school choice, to come out of the Texas House. He’s been with us from day one on that issue,” said Patrick.
Speaker Burrows also mentioned the strong relationship the House has enjoyed with the Senate this session.
“I’ll say this, we have had a great working relationship, the House has, with the Senate and Governor, especially on these education issues,” said Burrows.
During the event, Abbott, Patrick, and Burrows all sought to dispel myths that school choice would harm Texas public schools.
“Texas is funding education at one of the highest levels ever, now more than 50%. We have put more money into school security than ever before,” said Patrick. He added that average teacher pay had increased from $54,000 per year in 2019 to $69,000 today and that the legislature had budgeted $84 billion to educate 5.5 million students in public schools and $1 billion to educate 100,000 students in the proposed school choice program.
“Anyone who says that we are undermining education, that is simply a total lie. What we are doing in our K-12 public schools is funding them more than ever before.”
Speaker Burrows echoed those sentiments.
“We can fully fund public education and do school choice at the same time,” said Burrows, who added that he expected the House Public Education Committee to pass school choice and school finance bills early next week.
Governor Abbott was also critical of a fiscal note from the Legislative Budget Board that projected the fiscal impact of school choice legislation would rise from $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2027 to more than $3 billion in Fiscal Year 2028 and nearly $4 billion in Fiscal Year 2030.
“With all due respect to the LBB and their budget projections, it is based on nothing but fiction,” said Abbott, adding that lawmakers will determine how much to spend on any particular program, including school choice, each session.
“The number can only grow as large as much as the Texas legislature decides to appropriate to it.”
The Texas Senate’s school choice bill, Senate Bill 2, passed the Senate last month and has been referred to the House Public Education Committee. The House’s school choice bill, House Bill 3, has 75 coauthors in addition to its primary bill author, State Representative Brad Buckley.
