Texas Legislative Guide

In the 2013 session, despite a loud drumbeat leading up to January from supporters including then-Sen. Dan Patrick and then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, legislation that would allow students to receive public money to attend private schools died with barely a whimper. Two years later, a skirmish over private school vouchers was brewing again, but 2015 did not see a different outcome.

As the session began, a team of powerful conservative senators filed several measures taking varying approaches to providing public support for parents to send their children to private schools. 

But all of that legislation failed, including Senate Bill 4, a priority measure for Patrick that passed out of the Senate — as did efforts to loosen regulation of virtual education and a proposal known as an "achievement school district," which would have created a statewide entity to manage underperforming campuses.

Updated: June 1, 2015