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.

After hours of testimony Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Education advanced Senate Bill 2, a school voucher bill, setting it up for a floor vote.