Gov. Abbott says, 'stay tuned' as Texas lawmakers consider next options on education savings accounts
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott said 'stay tuned' Monday when asked if he will call for a fifth special session or if he's still hoping his school choice plan is somehow passed by the House.
Abbott made his brief remarks after skydiving for his first time with Al Blaschke, a 106 year old World War II veteran near San Marcos.
The fourth special session remains at a standstill after the House voted earlier this month to strip taxpayer-financed education savings accounts from a key bill.
One House member told CBS News Texas Monday that the Republican majority in the chamber is reviewing its options.
Lawmakers in the House could consider two bills approved by the Senate.
One gave the green light to education savings accounts, while the other legislation gave schools more money and teachers a pay raise.
On Monday afternoon, Speaker Dade Phelan briefly gaveled in only to say the House would remain at ease until Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the Senate briefly gaveled in and will return Thursday morning.
The governor said earlier this month that he would bring lawmakers back to the Capitol next month, January, and February if lawmakers passed any education bill that didn't include taxpayer subsidies for students to attend private school.
He hasn't repeated that since then.
Dr. Joshua Blank, Research Director at the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin said he thinks it would be best for the Governor to move on. "At this point for Abbott, the best thing to do honestly would be to exit the field and to point fingers at other actors. So, if Abbott continues to push on this into the next year, ultimately it starts to make him look weak as a governor, because he's repeatedly showing that this is actually not something that he can accomplish."
Last week, Abbott endorsed the re-election campaigns of the 58 House Republicans who voted to keep education savings accounts in the House bill.
While he did not back the 21 Republicans who voted to remove the ESAs from the bill, he has not endorsed their primary challengers.
The fourth special session ends December 7.