Texas Gov. Greg Abbott insisted Monday that he would accept nothing less than a robust, universal school choice voucher program, and he resisted calls to join the plan with blanket increases in public school funding.

Texans also heard from their fellow citizens as part of the Democratic Party’s response to Abbott’s speech, with state Democrats enlisting a public school educator, an OB/GYN, electricians’ union representative and the state’s Democratic chair to represent what the party hoped to project as the voice of everyday Texans.

A free public education for all citizens is a standard by which we are identified. I am a recipient of a free public education as probably many of you are. Please don't allow yourselves to go down in history as the Legislature which destroyed public education for the children of the State of Texas.

School choice is expected to be one of the most hotly contested items on the table in the 89th Texas Legislature. FOX 7's Rudy Koski talks to supporters and opponents of SB 2 about the bill.