This Is How You Kill A Public School System

They funded the voucher scheme. Now Republicans are letting public schools bleed out.

House Bill 2 (HB2), which would fund Texas public schools, passed the Texas House 142 to 5. Only the far-right dead-enders voted no. It’s got bipartisan backing. School districts are begging for it. Teachers are getting laid off. Campuses are shutting down. But over in the Texas Senate, the committee that’s supposed to even hear this bill hasn’t moved an inch. No hearing. No calendar. No sense of urgency.

And here’s the thing: they’ve had the bill since April 23. That’s ten legislative days ago. We’re now deep into May, with the legislative clock winding down, and still no movement. So what’s the game here? What the hell are Senate Republicans planning? Let’s talk about it.

What HB2 does.

HB2 is the public school funding bill. It raises the basic allotment, gives teachers a raise, helps rural districts stay open, covers special ed, transportation, and school safety. It’s the bill that actually funds the schools.

Republicans have already passed their voucher bill, and the governor has already signed it. They got their privatization scheme. But now, when it’s time to fund the public schools, they’re actively defunding them? Nothing. Crickets.

Watch Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu question Speaker Dustin Burrows on the Senate’s movement (or lack thereof) on 5/2:

The Senate’s stonewall.

The House did its job. It was sent straight to the Senate Education Committee, which is run by Brandon Creighton. Creighton has spent years trying to dismantle public education from the inside out.

Since then? Not a peep. No hearing scheduled. No sign they plan to take it up.

We’re down to the final stretch of the session. If the committee doesn’t move fast, HB2 gets buried, not by debate or opposition, but by running out the clock. The deadline for Senate committees to report out bills is May 24. That’s the drop-dead date. Miss it, and it’s over.

If Republicans fail to fund public schools, the entire school system in Texas would collapse.

They know the calendar. They know schools are already cutting staff. So the question isn’t whether they’ve forgotten. It’s: what are they waiting for?

Watch House Democrat Ron Reynolds question Speaker Dustin Burrows on the Senate’s movement (or lack thereof) on 5/5:

What are they playing at?

At this point, it’s not about oversight. It’s about strategy, and not the kind that helps kids. Since Representative Reynolds took to the back mic today, I’ve been racking my brain. What are Senate Republicans trying to accomplish?

• A manufactured crisis?

Let the schools fall apart, then claim they were broken. It’s a playbook we’ve seen before. Gut public education, starve it of resources, and then point to the wreckage as proof that privatization is the only option. This would sabotage our public schools and further push toward privatization.

• Fiscal hostage-taking?

The vouchers passed, and the governor signed them. They got what they wanted. Now, they’re using HB2 as a bargaining chip. If the House disagrees with whatever the Senate wants next, such as tax cuts, culture war bills, and more privatization, public schools will be left to die on the floor. It’s not like they care.

The Republican end goal is to kill all public education. You’ve seen what they’ve done with vouchers. You know what they’re doing in DC with the Department of Education. They want all schools to be privatized so poor little Timmy won’t have to learn that Thomas Jefferson was a rapist and George Washington was a human trafficker.

• Straight-up punishment?

The House didn’t roll over on vouchers, especially House Democrats. They pushed back. They made it hard. This might be payback, slow-walking the House’s top education bill to send a message. Public schools become collateral damage in a petty turf war. It’s not beneath Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to do that. He’s done it before.

So ask yourself: what are they trying to do?

Because no one delays a bipartisan funding bill in the middle of a school funding crisis by accident. It’s a choice. A choice to let kids go without teachers, without transportation, without resources, all while they smile for the cameras and talk about “parental rights.”

Maybe the truth is they don’t want public schools to survive.

Maybe they never did. And maybe this delay is just the soft part of the kill, where they starve the system quietly, then shrug and say it failed on its own.

Read the note that Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu passed out in the House today:

The clock is running out.

The deadline for Senate committees to report out bills is May 24. That’s the hard stop. If HB2 doesn’t get a hearing and a vote by then, it’s dead, because they let the clock run out.

Every day they sit on their hands, the window narrows. School districts don’t have time to wait. Teachers don’t have time to wait. But the Senate seems fine with dragging it out, watching the crisis grow, and pretending their hands are tied.

It’s time to turn up the pressure. Call Senate leadership directly. Dan Patrick and Brandon Creighton (Chair of Senate Education Committee) are holding this bill hostage. Let them know you see what they’re doing.

Tell them to schedule a hearing for HB2 now.

• 🚨🚨 Lt. Governor Dan Patrick: (512) 463-0001

• 🚨🚨 Senator Brandon Creighton: (512) 463-0104

Then call your House rep, especially if they’re a Democrat, and tell them to stop playing along. Why keep rubber-stamping Senate bills while the Senate trashes House priorities? Hold the line. Demand respect. Fight back.

And if nothing moves? Don’t forget. Come 2026, every single one of these Republicans will swear they “stood with teachers” and “fought for schools.” Call that bluff. Bookmark this moment, where they had a chance to fund public education and chose power games instead.

Public schools don’t need thoughts and prayers. They need funding. If the Senate won’t act, voters better remember who stood in the way.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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