Moving swiftly on a central Republican priority, the Texas Senate approved a “school choice” bill Wednesday that would put taxpayer dollars toward private school education. The 19-12 vote was largely along partisan lines with state Sen.

"The Texas Senate's passage of SB 2 is the biggest launch of any universal school choice program in American history, with $1 billion in funding for 100,000 students," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement Wednesday night.

The Republican-led Texas Senate passed one of Gov. Greg Abbott's top legislative priorities Wednesday: school choice. The vote came along party lines, 20-11. It came after hours of debate that began after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Lawmakers approved a number of amendments to Senate Bill 2.