House Democrats Reject Private School Voucher Scheme

The Republican supermajority continues to create dysfunction and slow the budget process leaving education funding unresolved, House Democrats said.

HB1934, a voucher scheme bill, returned to the House with Senate amendments and was held by House Republicans for further consideration. The bill can be reconsidered at any time during the 59th Legislature.

“HB1934 prioritizes vouchers over public schools. The bill takes hundreds of millions of dollars from public schools and reroutes it to subsidize the private school education of wealthy families. We continue to ignore the needs of 700,000 public school students to satisfy a few wealthy donors,” said House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa.

Assistant House Democratic Leader Melissa Provenzano said voucher schemes do not provide choices for all children and is simply a false narrative.

“Vouchers don’t create choices. This bill has nothing to do with choice. This bill is not for all kids or all families. It subsidizes tuition for students already sitting in private schools,” Rep. Provenzano said.

House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson said the actions of House Republican Leadership are just a continuation of the games and power struggle of the Republican supermajority.

“House Republican leaders will hold on to the bill to use HB1934 and the amendments made by Republican Senators as a bargaining tool to get what they want—which is millions of taxpayer dollars going to fund private schools,” said Rep. Cyndi Munson.

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