LIVE: Texas House on school choice bill | FOX 4 News

The Texas House Public Education committee will debate school choice legislation on Tuesday. House Bill 3 would establish savings accounts to allow public tax dollars to be used for private schools. A slightly different school choice bill previously passed the Senate. The battle over school choice in Texas moves to the House on Tuesday morning. School choice legislation has been a priority for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, but it failed in the House last regular session and in multiple special sessions. The House Public Education committee will meet to discuss House Bill 3, which would establish an education savings account program to use public funds to help pay for private schools. The bill is slightly different from Senate Bill 2, which passed last month. Gov. Abbott says the legislation has enough support to pass the House. Texas Democrats plan to oppose the bill. If HB3 passes the House, both chambers will work to resolve the differences between the two bills. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2 in February. That bill also establishes savings accounts for families to use public money for private education. House Bill 3 is similar to Senate Bill 2 in that both bills would require a $1 billion investment from the state to establish the accounts. Under both bills, families chosen for the program would be allowed to use the funds on private school tuition, textbooks, transportation and other education expenses. The bills start to move away from each other when it comes to who is considered for the accounts and how much each student would receive. While Senate Bill 2 would add a flat $10,000 to a student's savings account, the House version sets the number at "85 percent of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance for the applicable school year." The other difference is in how the programs choose who gets a spot if more applications are received. Lawmakers traditionally sign on as co-authors of a bill to publicly show support for the bill. If all the co-authors remain on the bill as it evolves, then the bill would pass the 150-member House, 76-74. There were some notable names left off the co-author list. None of the chamber's 62 Democrats were among those who signed, and 12 Republicans were also not on the list. Among those not on the list is House Speaker Dustin Burrows, though he has previously signaled support for school choice and was thanked by name in Abbott's statement. The other 11 were: Gary VanDeaver Jay Dean Brian Harrison Dade Phelan Jeffrey Barry Ryan Guillen Stan Lambert Drew Darby Ken King Charlie Geren Sam Harless