Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) says he will veto a bill being considered in the state House of Representatives because it doesn't sufficiently expand school choice .

Abbott, who has made school choice central to his 2023 legislative agenda, issued a statement over the weekend indicating that the bill, which would cover 800,000 students, did not provide what he referred to as "meaningful school choice" and said that if the measure reached his desk, he would veto it. The governor also threatened to call a special legislative session to force the legislature to take the issue up again.

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Instead, the governor urged the state House to look at a school choice bill proposed by the state Senate that provides school choice to more than 5 million students.

"Empowering parents to choose the best educational path for their child remains an essential priority this session," Abbott said. "A majority of Texans from across the state and from all backgrounds support expanding school choice. The Senate’s version of school choice makes about 5.5 million students eligible, while the House's version of that bill proposed last week would make about 4 million students eligible. The latest House version of school choice, which came out this weekend, only applies to about 800,000 students."

"This latest version does little to provide meaningful school choice, and legislators deserve to know that it would be vetoed if it reached my desk," the governor continued. "Instead, the original House version of the Senate bill provides a more meaningful starting point to begin House-Senate negotiations."

While school choice proposals in several Republican-controlled states have passed legislative chambers with ease, the efforts to bring school choice to the Lone Star State have hit repeated snags. While Republicans hold unified control of the Texas legislature, a group of state lawmakers representing rural districts has refused to support efforts to expand school choice in the state, claiming that the effort would strip funding from public schools.

But Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the pro-school choice American Federation for Children, told the Washington Examiner that Republicans opposed to universal school choice should get on board and noted that a number of anti-school choice Republicans in Iowa were unseated by primary challengers endorsed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) last year. Iowa passed universal school choice in January.

"Fake Republicans in the Texas House should see the writing on the wall at this point," DeAngelis said. "There's a parallel emerging right now between Texas and Iowa. Gov. Kim Reynolds fought hard for school choice last year, and her bill passed their Republican-controlled Senate. However, despite her best efforts, the bill did not pass the House even though 60% of the legislators in the chamber had an 'R' next to their name. She did not win the battle, but she won the war because she defeated several incumbents in the House primaries after last session and passed universal school choice this year."

The prominent school choice activist commended Abbott for taking a hard line with the legislature, saying the governor's efforts "will finally unleash education freedom in Texas."

"Gov. Abbott isn't messing around," DeAngelis said. "He is not going to accept a watered-down bill that allows fake Republicans to check a box on school choice while actually doing little to nothing to empower Texas families. If every Republican governor fought for parents like Abbott is doing now, millions of more students would already have school choice today. This is the way."

A spokesperson for Abbott declined to provide further comment on the governor's veto threat.

On Monday, the Texas State Teachers Association, the state's major teachers union, accused Abbott and the legislature of ignoring teacher concerns over pay in order to push school choice.

"The governor and the legislative majority are shortchanging educators and their students with an inadequate budget and trying to pass a voucher bill that would further endanger our public education system and threaten the futures of the millions of Texas school children who will remain in public schools," the union said.