Several months after a major school finance law rewired how billions of dollars get funneled into hundreds of school districts across the state, educators and state officials are still trying to untangle the threads. House Bill 3, an $11.6 billion measure, gave school districts more money for employee salaries and programs like full-day pre-K and […]Read More
After weeks of tough negotiations, lawmakers have come up with a final deal on how to increase public education funding and cut school district taxes — and it includes a compromise on raises for full-time teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians. House Bill 3, a copy of which was obtained by The Texas Tribune after it […]Read More
Texas’ top three political leaders declared Thursday that the Legislature had reached agreements on its top three 2019 priorities: A two-year state budget, a comprehensive reform of school finance and legislation designed to slow the growth of rising property taxes. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott broke the news on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, just […]Read More
The Texas Senate on Monday approved a bill to massively overhaul public school finance, but did so while backing away from a proposal to use an increased sales tax to lower school district property taxes. After an hours-long debate on dozens of proposed changes, the Senate voted 26-2 on House Bill 3, which under the […]Read More
After a contentious three-hour public hearing Monday, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed a bill that would provide annual $5,000 pay raises for all full-time classroom teachers in the state. One of Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top priorities this legislative session, Senate Bill 3 is now eligible to be taken up by the full Senate, […]Read More
Two of the most expensive ways to make Texas voters happy just happen to be the top priorities of the state leaders and legislators assembling next week in Austin. The state’s school finance system is out of balance when it comes to raising money for education, and out of date when it comes to distributing […]Read More
There is a chart on page 205 of the newest edition of a wonky and essential Texas government publication called “Fiscal Size-Up: 2018-19 Biennium.” You might not be running to look it up — only a particular order of nerds do that — but these numbers from the Legislative Budget Board are going to be […]Read More
A state panel responsible for proposing improvements to Texas’ embattled public school finance system is facing criticism from an unexpected source: some of its own members, who say the panel’s hearings seem geared toward a predetermined outcome of making schools do more with their current funding. Texas school districts have repeatedly sued the state over […]Read More
Whether you feel sorry for them or not, Austin ISD property taxpayers will be sending $533 million of their local school taxes to the state for redistribution to poorer districts in the next school year. That means that about 35 percent of the local school taxes collected in that district are spent elsewhere — the […]Read More
The Texas House on Friday passed a package of bills that would put $1.8 billion into public schools and help out struggling small, rural school districts. House members voted 130-12 to approve the lower chamber’s main piece of school finance legislation, House Bill 21, just as they did during the regular session. The House also voted […]Read More
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