Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Thursday that creating a private-school voucher program in Texas is “the defining issue” of the legislative session, reassuring a crowd of conservative supporters gathered in Austin that their long wait for school choice was over.

This week, for the first time, the new Speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said school choice will pass. His comments come amid rising pressure on him to get the controversial bill across the finish line that would give taxpayer money for students to attend private school.

Families participating in the program could receive about 85% of the amount public schools collect for each attending student from the state and local sources.