How Valley lawmakers voted on the education savings accounts program bill

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Two bills related to school funding passed the house this week.

One is a 7.7 billion-dollar school funding package, backed by many, and the other, commonly referred to as school choice, is something that has been widely contested by educators and parents across Texas.

At 2 a.m. Thursday, after nearly 11 hours of debate on the floor, the Texas House voted to give initial approval to its version of SB 2, which would create a universal education savings account program.

This would ultimately allow families to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition.

“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,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news release following the early morning vote. “Texas could not have accomplished this without the hard work and unwavering support from Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dustin Burrows, Chairman Brandon Creighton, and Chairman Brad Buckley. I applaud the legislators who took a stand with the overwhelming majority of Texans who support school choice.”

According to a report from KXAN in Austin, the only Republicans to vote against the bill were State Reps. Dade Phelan, R – Beaumont, and Gary VanDeaver, R – New Boston.

In the Rio Grande Valley, lawmakers voted along their party lines in the education funding bill.

Here is a list of Texas House Democrats from the Valley who voted, no:

• Oscar Longoria
• Sergio Munoz Jr.
• Erin Gamez
• Armando Martinez
• Terry Canales
• Bobby Guerra

And here is a list of Texas House Republicans from the Valley who voted, yes:

• Ryan Guillen
• Janie Lopez

Lauren Peck and Adam Schwager from KXAN contributed to this report.