CENTRAL TEXAS (KXXV) — School choice bill SB 3 is awaiting passage in the State House, and 25 News spoke to Waco’s State Representative Pat Curry to find out where it stands.
For more on the school bills in the State of Texas and to hear from Waco rep. Pat Curry:
House Bill 3 is the school choice bill which would give parents $10,000 dollars to send their children to a private school.
It is limited to 100,000 students so parents would have to apply and priority would go to special education students, who would get $30,000.
Representative Pat Curry says that one bill is only part of a bigger package of bills of legislation.
"My priority is the package of bills, not just HB 3," Curry said.
This is HB 2, which would give teachers and support staff pay raises up to $10,000 dollars, and a $220 per student basic allotment increase.
HB 4 eliminates the STAAR test.
"This is a huge deal — teachers don’t like it, and we don’t like them having to teach to the test. It will get a replacement that is tried and true.
HB 6 is a teacher Bill of Rights.
"All of these are part of a package to move the state forward in education and get us to the top — that’s our goal — teachers have to be in control of the classroom," Curry said.
Finally is HB 20, which Curry has worked on for a year now — it’s the workforce development package.
"This isn’t just HB 3 it’s a package and the House will support the package," Curry said.
The school choice bill is expected to go before a house committee this coming Tuesday — the senate has already passed its version of the school choice bill.
