Thursday, April 11, the Texas Senate voted to approve Senate Bill (SB) 2 by Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston). The original version of SB 2 would have completely lifted the cap on the number of charters the state can issue for charter schools. However, the version of the bill approved by the Senate was amended so that the allowable number of charters would be raised from 215 to 305 incrementally over the next six years. It would also give the state the authority to close charter schools after three years of poor performance. The bill’s next stop will be the House Public Education Committee. Stay tuned for updates.