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MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak |
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WEDNESDAY || 2/5/25 |
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MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak |
Subscribe to the daily email here |
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WEDNESDAY || 2/5/25 |
|
Good Wednesday morning.
Thank you for reading as a FREE subscriber. |
» Become a PAID subscriber here for $7/mo or $70/yr and SAVE TIME and be BETTER INFORMED. |
|
“If something of importance is known in Texas, Matt knows it. With a decline in the number of credible news organizations, the Must Read Texas morning email is indispensable for anyone that wants to continue to be informed.” – Former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) |
|
AUSTIN NEWSLETTER LAUNCHED |
Are you one of the 100,000+ subscribers to ATX Pulse, a newsletter that delivers EVERYTHING you NEED TO KNOW about Austin? |
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Subscriptions are $5/mo, $50/yr or $199/lifetime here: ATXpulsepremium.com. |
> Read today's FREE subscriber email here.
> Become a PAID subscriber for $5/mo or $50/yr here. |
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“Texas Senate to vote today on school choice bill,” Dallas Morning News' Philip Jankowski — “The Texas Senate is poised to pass a “school choice” bill Wednesday that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars for private school education.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, has vowed to pass Senate Bill 2 and send it to the Texas House, where similar school voucher-style bills fell short in previous legislative sessions.
Gov. Greg Abbott has made school choice his No. 1 policy goal for the Legislature.
The debate and votes will be livestreamed by the Texas Senate at senate.texas.gov/av-live.php. The Senate session begins at noon, and SB 2 is the only bill set for debate Wednesday. |
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SB 2 would create a fund for education savings accounts, a school voucher-style program, with $1 billion from the state budget devoted to the fund. Officials have estimated it would provide enough funding for 90,000 students.
All Texas school-age children would be eligible to apply for an education savings account. Students chosen would get $10,000 to put toward a certified private school. Special education children could receive $11,500. Home-schooled children could get $2,000 to put toward their education.
The bill creates tiered access. If the number of children applying for an education savings account exceeds the $1 billion currently allocated for the fund, $800 million would be prioritized for low-income families or children receiving special education who previously attended public school. |
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The bill defines low income as families earning five times the federal poverty level, or about $160,000 a year for a family of four.
The remaining $200 million would be available to children of all income levels and include those who are currently in private school.
Similar proposals have passed the Senate numerous times in previous years. Support for the bill falls largely on partisan lines in the Senate, where Republicans hold a strong majority of 20 out of 31 seats.
Patrick has boasted that SB 2 will face little resistance in the Senate, telling KTVT-TV last week that he would send the bill “like a rocket ship” to the House.
The House is a different story. In previous years, similar bills have been defeated by a coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans who opposed using taxpayer money for private school education.
Many House Republicans who opposed school choice retired or were unseated in bruising 2024 Republican primaries in which Abbott actively campaigned against incumbents. Abbott’s political opposition was fueled by $10 million from GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire and leading school choice advocate.
Abbott has said he has at least 79 votes to pass the measure – a majority of the 150-member House." DMN ($) |
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TX TRIB: “After teasing border security rollback, Texas plunges in deeper” Texas Tribune |
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TX TRIB: “Abbott's political muscle puts his agenda on fast track in Legislature” Texas Tribune |
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AAS: “ERCOT Board discusses transmission plan to serve growing needs of Permian Basin region” AAS ($) |
SAEN: “ERCOT's costs to keep aging CPS unit running surge by $12.5M” SAEN ($) |
KXAN: “Buckingham excited for collaboration with Trump administration, Mexico on border control” KXAN |
HOU CHRON: “Paxton donors helped a Texas judge win. Now he wants election reforms” Houston Chronicle ($) |
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SAEN: “County Judge Sakai open to using county tax dollars for new arena” SAEN ($) |
DMN: “Residents locked out of Dallas County Tax Office website on last day to pay” DMN ($) |
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HOU CHRON: “CenterPoint agrees to rate decrease in rate case settlement” Houston Chronicle ($) |
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> AP: "Texas man set to be executed for killing a pastor in his own church" AP
> DMN: "TX Attorney General celebrates win in trans health care suits" DMN
> TX TRIB: "After teasing border security rollback, Texas plunges in deeper" TX TRIB
> FWST: "Dad fatally shot by neighbor in front of his kids with ‘no warning,’ Texas family says" FWST
> TX TRIB: "Justice Department restarts legal aid programs for detained immigrants" TX TRIB
> TX TRIB: "Execution of man convicted of killing pastor in 2011 scheduled Wednesday" TX TRIB
> DMN: "What Lakers' Dorian Finney-Smith said about reunion with Luka Doncic" DMN
> HOU CHRON: "Exclusive: Texas A&M picks 4 companies to build cutting-edge nuclear reactors" HOU CHRON
> FWST: "UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth paid president $560,000 to resign" FWST
> FWST: "On his first day as a Laker, Luka Doncic makes it clear he wanted to be a Dallas Maverick | Opinion" FWST
> FWST: "1 person fatally shot during fight in south Fort Worth, police say" FWST
> DMN: "Illegal Texas hunting operation employed ‘sophisticated scheme’" DMN
> DMN: "Fort Worth police investigating fight that turned into fatal shooting" DMN
> FWST: "1 dead, 1 injured after multi-vehicle crash in northwest Fort Worth, police say" FWST
> DMN: "Fort Worth fixture Tandy Leather moving headquarters to nearby city" DMN
> FWST: "Fort Worth neighborhoods are losing internet service for weeks. Blame copper wire thieves." FWST
> FWST: "Former DeSoto and Texas Longhorns football player arrested in Fort Worth" FWST
> DMN: "Texas Lottery: North TX player wins $2 million Mega Million prize" DMN
> HOU CHRON: "'In shock': Houston's Ismaili Muslim community deals with death of spiritual leader, the Aga Khan" HOU CHRON
> HOU CHRON: "Woman fatally shot at west Houston gas station, police say" HOU CHRON
> DMN: "Country singer Alan Jackson brings farewell tour to Fort Worth" DMN
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas must invest in water to meet population growth, state demographer says" COMMUNITY IMPACT
> HOU CHRON: "Rice University could be targeted under Trump's DEI ban" HOU CHRON
> HOU CHRON: "Highly anticipated Katy Food Hall opens with hot chicken, birria and burgers" HOU CHRON
> HOU CHRON: "Waffle House adds egg surcharge to restaurants due to ongoing bird flu outbreak" HOU CHRON |
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Last night's Texas sports score:
> NBA: Philadelphia 118, Dallas 116
> NBA: Brooklyn 99, Houston 97
> NHL: Anaheim 2, Dallas 1
> NCAAM: #5 Houston 72, Oklahoma State 63
> NCAAM: #13 Texas Tech 73, Baylor 59
> NCAAM: AR Pine Bluff 69, Texas Southern 68
Tonight''s Texas sports schedule:
> 6pm: NCAAM: Rice at East Carolina (ESPN+)
> 6pm: NCAAM: Texas State at Old Dominion (ESPN+)
> 6pm: NBA: San Antonio at Atlanta (ESPN)
> 7pm: NCAAM: West Virginia at TCU (ESPN+)
> 7pm: NCAAM: Tulane at UTSA (ESPN+)
> 8pm: NCAAM: Arkansas at Texas (ESPN2)
> 8pm: NCAAM: SMU at Virginia Tech (ACC Network)
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Max Christie 'better than advertised' in Mavericks debut" DMN ($)
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Mavericks trading for 76ers forward Caleb Martin" DMN ($)
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: "Spurs upgrade Fox, McLaughlin to available for Atlanta game" SAEN ($)
DALLAS STARS: "Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen undergoes knee surgery in New York" DMN ($) |
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