San Antonio lawmakers reflect on vouchers, water conservation and redistricting

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Democratic state lawmakers from San Antonio discussed their votes against school vouchers, highlighted the need for water conservation and voiced their opposition against a recent redistricting push during a Wednesday event hosted by The Texas Tribune.

The event, which took place at St. Mary's University and was moderated by Tribune editor-in-chief Matthew Watkins, featured state Rep. Ray Lopez and state Sen. José Menéndez. It is the latest in a series of talks organized by the Tribune to reflect on this year’s legislative session, which ended on June 2.

The session was largely focused on education and ended with the passage of historic legislation that increased funding for public schools and authorized the creation of a private school voucher program in the state.

Senate Bill 2 will allow families to use public taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s private education. The two Democrats, who were opposed to the legislation, said it will leave most students out and criticized it for not requiring private schools to accept students who participate in the program.

“It is almost impossible to know [...] which child is going to win this lottery ticket. And the sad part is that even if you win the lotto ticket [...] no private school has to take you,” Menéndez said.

Voucher supporters have said the program can be beneficial for some kids who need special education programs, but Menéndez said that, unlike public schools, private schools have fewer protections for those students.

This year, the Legislature also passed a $20 billion plan to upgrade the state’s water infrastructure, which voters will have to vote on in November. Menéndez said that while this was a good investment for the state, water conservation will be important for the state moving forward.

“The best environmentally friendly form of water is conservation. We should be doing anything and everything to conserve as much water as we can,” Menéndez said. “San Antonio has a history of using similar, if almost the same, per capita amounts of water as it did 20, 30, 40 years ago because of conservation. We have to make sure the rest of the state is doing that.”

The Democrats also addressed a push from Texas Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump’s political advisers to redraw the state’s district lines to give the GOP an advantage in future elections. While it remains unclear if Gov. Greg Abbott will call a special session to do so, the lawmakers seemed to imply they would not travel to Austin to discuss a new redistricting effort.

“I don’t know why any Democrat will show up to a special session where that’s what you’ll do. What incentive on God’s green earth do I have [to] increase gerrymandering,” Menéndez said.

Disclosure: St. Mary's University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!