House kills on-again, off-again vouchers bill

[Judi Lynn]

May 24, 2005, 1:02AM

THE LEGISLATURE
House kills on-again, off-again vouchers bill
Dramatic night at the statehouse ends the quest for this session
By JANET ELLIOTT and JEFFREY GILBERT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau


AUSTIN - A plan to make Texas one of the first states with a large-scale voucher program died Monday night after a raucous debate and a series of close votes in the House.

After the bill was gutted to make vouchers available only for public and not private schools, Speaker Tom Craddick sustained a parliamentary challenge that killed the issue for this session.

"I woke up this morning thinking this may be the day we made history in Texas," said Rep. Kent Grusendorf, sponsor of the proposal. "I'm disappointed."

It was the first time in eight years that the House debated the volatile issue of giving students public funding to attend private and parochial schools. In 1997, the effort failed on a tie vote and Monday's debate delivered similar drama.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3195096
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Grusendorf

[jobycom]

1. Yippee!! That Senfronia Thompson has been in the thick of things lately

She was outspoken on another issue recently, though I've forgotten what it was.

[laheina]

2. There goes the GOP's test case :) nt