AUSTIN – Funding cuts by state lawmakers left a five-year, $5 billion hole in the budget for Texas public schools between 2011 and 2016. A new University of Texas study analyzes the effect of those cuts, made because of state revenue shortfalls, which forced many districts to operate with less money despite a growing number of students. […]Read More
Tags : texas school funding
A state law that’s supposed to keep a leash on school tax increases might be preventing temporary tax breaks in the Texas districts with the highest tax rates. But reversing it could make it easier to raise taxes. It’s hard to tell the tax hawks from the tax doves sometimes. A legislative proposal meant to […]Read More
Gov. Greg Abbott turned down Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s suggestion that he call a special session to overhaul school funding. Days after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested that Gov. Greg Abbott call a 30-day special session to overhaul the state’s school funding system, Abbott said Monday that no such special session was needed. Patrick told […]Read More
It would not be completely accurate to say billions in local school tax money is being used for general state spending. But it wouldn’t exactly be wrong, either. Property-rich school districts in Texas hate sending money to the state to help property-poor school districts. But the state has little incentive to change that system: Every […]Read More
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling upholding the state’s public school funding system as constitutional, while asserting that the state’s more than 5 million students “deserve transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid.” “Our Byzantine school funding ‘system’ is undeniably imperfect, with immense room for improvement. But […]Read More
The Texas Supreme Court will soon deliver a decision in Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition v. Williams, which will determine if there are any Texas constitutional violations in the way schools are funded in Texas. To review the potential impacts, State Sen. José Rodríguez has organized a workshop regarding school finance from 9-2 on […]Read More