The Texas House of Representatives passed HB2 Wednesday evening, a billion dollar funding bill for public schools with a 144-4 vote. This debate over the voucher bill—Senate Bill 2—continued into Thursday morning with no immediate end in sight. 

Early Wednesday evening, Rep. Talarico made an attempt to allow the bill’s fate to be determined by a statewide vote in November, but that proposal was rejected by a vote of 86-62. Only one republican Rep. Dade Phelan voted for the amendment.

“The last time I checked, we still had separation of powers in this state,” Talarico said. “The last time I checked, this was still the people’s House, not the governor’s House. All of that is at risk with this vote on this amendment. So, regardless of where you are on this bill, I’m asking you to stand with me on this amendment.”

Legislators proposed over 50 amendments to SB2, and those amendments have been read throughout the evening. Amendment 18 was proposed by Rep. Gina Hinojosa at around 11 p.m.

“Mr. Speaker and members, this bill is an awful bill, and I hate it,” she said. “But I have to admit this bill is an opportunity for us to finally do something good for our students in public schools.”

SB2 requires private schools to report testing, but they are allowed to choose which test they administer. Rep. Hinojosa proposed that private schools should have to take the same test that public school students take: the STAAR test. 

Rep. Hinojosa believes that this amendment could prevent public school students  from taking the STAAR test.

“I guarantee you our kids in public schools would never again have to take the STAAR test because the powers that are bringing you this bill would never require that of their students in private school.”

After questions and discussions from other representatives, Rep. Hinojosa came back to the stand to continue her case for Amendment 18 while also bringing up a recurring situation that she does not support.

“Let me begin by saying it is not respectful to move to table for every single amendment we are hearing that affects 5.5 million students in our public schools,” she said. “We should be able to vote up or down on every one of these amendments that impacts so many of our Texas students.”

Following Hinojosa’s attempt to pass amendment 18, it passed 85-62 but was tabled, meaning it was not added to the bill.

Typically when amendments are introduced they are voted on, but what was seen many times tonight was called tabling, which means that they set the amendment aside and don’t even vote for it.

Some anti-voucher advocates and others in the crowd began to notice the constant tabling of amendments. Austin Council PTA member Daphne Hoffacker who had been there all day was one of those people.

“We’re not able to improve this bill because they’re not operating with fidelity,” she said. “They’re trying to just ram through the worst version of this bill, and they don’t care that we don’t want it. They don’t care that the constituents have shown up en masse and said that this is not something we want.”

Following Rep. Hinojosa’s failed amendment, amendment 19 proposed by Rep. Jolanda Jones met the same fate.

“It’s offensive that every time we bring amendments, real solutions to major problems in this bill the author moves to table without real debate,” she said. “It silences our speech it blocks us on voting on merits of amendments designed to alleviate harm,”

Rep. Jones’s amendment would have required the state to create a report showing the income levels of families who use a voucher.

“We were elected to represent Texans,” she said. “Our voices matter. Our votes matter. Our constituents matter. This bill is already deeply flawed, and your refusal to let us improve it is a disservice to everyone, especially the low income students this bill purports to help.”

An amendment from Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, met the same fate as Hinojosa’s. Her proposal would have required the state to create a report showing the income levels of families who receive an education savings account.

Hoffacker is also frustrated because of the outside influence from higher officials which may lead to the bill being passed. 

“As far as the vouchers, this has been pure corruption,” she said. “President Trump called all the Republican representatives and pressured them, and they all folded and that is so disrespectful and so frustrating because 5.5 million kids were depending on them to do the right thing, and they couldn’t do it.”

Hoffacker has been fighting against vouchers since 2017 and believes they will cause avoidable systemic issues.

“In other states vouchers not only decimated their state budgets which then they make up for by cutting social services that are important for our communities,” she said. “But what we’ve seen is in other states most of this money goes to people who are already enrolled in the private schools.”

She also explained that because public school funding is also due to student attendance, students leaving the schools could cause districts to lose money. 

Despite the small victory with HB2 passing, Hoffacker still feels public schools are not getting the fair treatment.

“I’m pretty frustrated,” she said. “I think the funding bill is inadequate. It’s an insult to think that we should take less money than we would be getting if we simply followed inflation. It’s a slap in the face to all of our public schools.”

With many amendments being shot down, and a point of order that was withdrawn, Hoffacker continued to hope that the bill will be killed, or if passed be sent to the courts and be repealed. But despite being discouraged by the outcome of today’s SB2 debate, Hoffacker said she is proud of everyone who showed up to support the issue no matter the outcome.

“The most beautiful part of the day was that people really care about this, and they showed up for their public schools in huge numbers even if the Texas Legislature doesn’t care,” she said. “We care, and it was really powerful for me to see how many people showed up to take care of you kids and make sure that they get the best education possible.”

At the moment, debates over SB2 are still underway. It is unclear when a decision will be made but if the House approves the bill, it will make its way back to the Senate which approved a different version of the bill in February.

UPDATE: The Texas House signed off on Senate Bill 2, early Thursday morning in an 85-63 vote. All Democrats present for the vote, voted against the bill. Only by two Republicans voted nay.

“This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children,” Abbott said in a press statement, adding that he plans to “swiftly sign this bill into law” when it reaches his desk.