Greg Abbott stumps for school vouchers at Temple Christian School

FORT WORTH – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that speaking Thursday evening at a Fort Worth private school, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made the case for school vouchers — again: That parents, not the government, are best equipped to decide what type of education is best for their children. Although Abbott has struggled to get a voucher proposal through the Texas Legislature in years past, he sounded confident that a bill will reach his desk this year. Abbott was in Fort Worth Thursday to rally supporters of education savings accounts, a school voucher-like program that gives families public money to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses. The governor spoke at a Parent Empowerment Night at Temple Christian School.

During the event, Abbott acknowledged that the proposal has passed the Texas Senate in “session after session after session,” only to fail when it reached the House. But the current session is likely to bring different results. Currently, 77 representatives are signed on as authors on the House’s education savings account bill — one more vote than the bill needs to get through the chamber. Abbott, however, encouraged families not to assume the bill is already across the finish line. Pointing to a row of Republican lawmakers in the audience, he encouraged parents to call their senators’ and representatives’ offices to voice their support for school vouchers. Abbott insisted that the proposal doesn’t represent an attack on public schools, saying that the state will have approved record per-student funding and teacher pay by the end of the legislative session. But he also accused public schools across the state of promoting a “woke, leftist agenda.”