AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Texas governor and the Bush family’s rising political star have added muscle to a rally supporting school vouchers – but such plans still may not pass the fiercely red state’s Legislature.
Marching bands and hundreds of students, many wearing scarfs marking “National School Choice Week,” converged on the Texas Capitol grounds Tuesday.
Gov. Greg Abbott called vouchers, which give families state money to help pay for private and religious schools, a “civil rights issue.”
Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, a longtime school choice advocate, attended the rally but didn’t speak.
In previous years, the Texas Senate has approved vouchers only to have them die in the state House.
Opposition comes from lower chamber Democrats and rural Republicans fearful of hurting schools considered the lifeblood of their small communities.
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