Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that he’d urge the Texas Senate to accept the House version of the bill, instead of trying to negotiate a compromise.

The Texas House voted this week to use taxpayer money to send students to private schools. Republican leaders in the Senate plan to recommend that the Senate accept the House's changes to the bill, speeding up the process to get the bill to the governor's desk.

In a seismic shift for Texas education that could have ramifications for decades, the state House signed off on a plan early Thursday to allow parents to use state dollars to pay for their children’s private school education.