Tag Archives: school finance
The Cost of Carve-Outs
Lawmakers passed an omnibus school finance and property tax reform bill this session, but didn’t include a way to pay for it past 2021. One place to look: corporate tax breaks.
Just before Memorial Day weekend, lawmakers inked an $11.6 billion school finance and property tax reform package. The passage of House Bill 3, which includes a...Read More
The Power Politics Behind the House’s Bipartisan, Kumbaya, Feel-Good Session
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen altered his party’s near-term agenda in service of the GOP’s long-term political project: Power. Will it work?
Weeks before the 2019 legislative session even began, Jeff Leach foreshadowed the shifting political winds that would ultimately animate lawmakers. In early Dec...Read More
A Storm is Brewing in Greg Abbott’s Sunshine-and-Rainbows Texas
The governor’s State of the State address was heavy on Texaphile platitudes and predictably light on details. Despite the kumbaya, fault lines are already forming.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott spent the first 15 minutes of his State of the State address Tuesday painting a picture of Texas as the Promised Land. A thousand ref...Read More
Texas Has Plenty of Money, But Will Lawmakers Use it to Fix Their Years of Negligence?
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his revenue estimate for the 2020-2021 biennium. The upshot is: There’s money to spend, if the Legislature is willing.
Things appear to be going swimmingly for those hoping that Texas legislators will finally address two of the state’s most intractable, intertwined problems: a...Read More
Mike Collier Has a Problem: Dan Patrick Ain’t Taking His Bait
If his campaign is to gain momentum in the roughly three months before Election Day, Collier needs to smoke Patrick out of the hole he’s hiding in — and fast.
Mike Collier has been publicly trying to get a rise out of the usually bombastic Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ever since he launched his campaign to un...Read More
Despite ‘Hardship’ Funding, Rural Texas Schools Face Difficult Financial Future
Education advocates don’t think the funding will be enough to avoid staff layoffs and cuts to student services.
Education advocates don’t think the funding will be enough to avoid staff layoffs and cuts to student services....Read More
Experts to Lawmakers: Fund Schools Less to See How Creative They Get
Depending on whose measure you’re using, Texas is somewhere between 38th and 49th in the nation when it comes to per-student funding. Instead of wallowing in ...Read More
Texas Supreme Court Upholds School Finance System
The high court effectively ruled that the finance system, despite deep budget cuts and inequity, is not problematic enough to be deemed unconstitutional....Read More
Right-Wing Think Tank: Let the Market Sort Out School Finance
A new Texas Public Policy Foundation report argues lawmakers don't need to figure out how much money Texas students need — they can leave it to the market....Read More