House GOP Goes Seven Different Ways
on Vouchers Ban as State Budget Plank
Capitol Inside
April 8, 2023
The Texas House reclaimed some mojo this week when two dozen Republicans teamed with Democrats to derail a school choice push at the starting gates in a defiant thumbing of the nose at Governor Greg Abbott, the Senate and the state GOP.
The House voted 86-52 for a budget amendment to ban the state from spending public funds on private schools after rejecting a motion to table it on a vote of 71-64. The Republicans who support school choice could have made it a close with a shot to prevail if seven of them hadn't vanished from the chamber when the first of two votes on the vouchers funding prohibition were cast on Thursday in the House.
But the dynamics changed dramatically within a matter of minutes before the second vote. A Capitol Inside analysis shows that the ruling party's members fell into seven separate categories with the positions they took in the critical test votes on school vouchers in the debate on the appropriations bill that cleared the lower chamber eventually on a vote of 136-10.
Courageous Dozen - 12 House Republicans emerged as the only true heroes in the eyes of public education advocates when they voted against the motion to table the vouchers funding prohibition before voting to approve the amendment.
This group featured GOP State Reps. Trent Ashby of Lufkin, Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, Drew Darby of San Angelo, Jay Dean of Longview, Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, Kyle Kacal of College Station, John Kuempel of Seguin, Stan Lambert of Abilene, Glenn Rogers of Graford, Hugh Shine of Temple, Reggie Smith of Sherman and Gary VanDeaver of New Boston.
GOP State Rep. Ernest Bailes of Shepherd would qualify for the same recognition as a co-sponsor of the anti-vouchers amendment that Democratic State Rep. Abel Herrero of Corpus Christi tacked on the $306 billion appropriations bill for the next two years. Bailes voted for the amendment after being recorded as absent for the motion to table.
Bases Covered - 10 House Republicans voted both ways on the vouchers spending amendment - casting votes to table it initially before voting to approve it after the eventual outcome became apparent. The flip-floppers featured State Reps. Steve Allison of San Antonio, Keith Bell of Forney, DeWayne Burns of Cleburne, Justin Holland of Health, Brooks Landgraf of Odessa, Andrew Murr of Junction, Angelina Orr of Itasca, Walter "Four" Price of Amarillo, John Raney of College Station and David Spiller of Jacksboro.
The collective epiphany will be a challenging experience to explain the waffling on the hottest topic at the statehouse in Austin up to now this year.
Disappearing Act - 9 House Republicans were absent without leave for the first vote on vouchers, which was the toughest vote that's been taken at the Texas Capitol so far this year. That group included State Reps. Frederick Frazier of McKinney, Cody Harris of Palestine, Lacey Hull of Houston, Ken King of Canadian, Morgan Meyer of Dallas, Lynn Stucky of Sanger, Carl Tepper of Lubbock, Ellen Troxclair of Austin and Austin.
Bailes and King returned to the floor in time to cast votes for the Herrero amendment while Hull, Meyer, Stucky, Tepper and Troxclair all voted no after they resurfaced in the chamber. Three Democrats - State Reps. John Bryant of Dallas, Ray Lopez of San Antonio and Christina Morales of Houston - were absent for the first vote on vouchers as well.
Didn't Vote at All - 2 House Republicans were AWOL for the first vote on the motion to table the Herrero amendment before they were listed as "present, not voting" in the tally that approved it. Harris and Frazier were the only Republicans who stuck to the sidelines in the two most important votes that have been cast in the west wing up to now this year.
Present, Not Voting - 9 House Republicans punched the white lights on their desks to signify that they were in the chamber but taking no position in the fight on the amendment that sought to defund a school voucher program before it ever received a dime. This could be the most difficult position to defend back home. It gives potential primary challengers a potent weapon with the ability to accuse incumbents of shirking their dutues by refusing to vote on the Legislature's highest priorities and most divisive issues.
Abbott has made a rare appearance on the floor two days before the budget debate when he asked Republicans to either vote to kill the Herrero amendment or to go on record as present, not voting if they'd been on the fence. That may be the only conceivable explanation for such an unusual number of white lights in a vote on a major issue.
The group of Republicans who declined to take sides on the final vouchers vote featured State Reps. Brad Buckley of Killeen, David Cook of Mansfield, Mano DeAyala of Houston, John Lujan of San Antonio, Shelby Slawson of Stephenville, Kronda Thimesch of Carrollton and Ed Thompson of Pearland along with Frazier and Harris. Democratic State Rep. Harold Dutton of Houston voted white light on the Herrero amendment and the motion to table it as well. All of the chamber's other Democrats backed the provision.
All of the Republicans who were on the floor but didn't vote either way on the Herrero amendment had voted to table it initially. Buckley's decision to abstain may have come as the biggest surprise in light of his role as the Public Education Committee chairman who'd voted to table the Herrero amendment a few minutes before.
Buckley proposed the motion to table on the grounds that the House should wait until it had vetted a half-dozen school choice bills in his committee before making decisions on funding. Buckley argued that the House would be putting the cart before the horse if it approved the budget ban before the committee had a chance to debate the policy.
Vouchers Backers - 52 House Republicans voted against the Herrero amendment after supporting the motion to table. This group makes up 61 percent of the 85 GOP lawmakers in the House when Speaker Dade Phelan isn't factored into the equation as a representative who rarely votes.
Excused Absence - 1 House Republican was a now show throughout the entire debate on the spending plan in House Bill 1. State Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City had vowed to be a major force in the debate before he failed to report for work on Thursday. Slaton's return would push the pro-vouchers count to 53.
more to come ... |
