Texas House gives initial OK to $7.7 billion school funding package

Yahoo

17-04-2025

The Texas House gave initial approval to a $7.7 billion education finance package Wednesday that would give public schools, many of which are grappling with massive deficits, the largest increase in state funding since 2019.
The House passed the funding bill on first reading with overwhelming bipartisan support — with a 144-4 vote — indicating it might clear the chamber and advance to the Senate at a time when many school districts across Texas are in the red because of inflation, stagnant revenue and a confluence of other factors, which include a lack of major financial investments in public education by the state.
House Bill 2 proposes to increase the base-level funding per student by almost $400 — from $6,160 to $6,555 — and ties future increases to the basic allotment to property tax increases, offering an option to raise this index.
The bill would also pay for teacher raises, teacher training and invest $1.8 billion in special education funding.
In a news conference hours before the House gave the bill an initial OK, House Speaker Dustin Burrows vowed to work with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, and Gov. Greg Abbott to 'find a way to land the plane on this.'
'There is a reason this is House Bill 2,' said Burrows, a Republican lawmaker from Lubbock who was flanked by several superintendents, including the Austin district's Matias Segura, during the conference. 'The only thing that has been more of a priority for the Texas House is the budget, that we are constitutionally obligated to pass.'
The Senate has passed Senate Bill 26, a $4.3 billion proposal to increase teacher pay and incentives, but the upper chamber doesn't have a bill similar to HB 2.
Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican from Conroe who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, has said his strategy to invest in schools is to put money directly into teacher pay, school safety and other targeted priorities.
Rep. Diego Bernal, who is vice chairman of the House's Education Committee, said that while there was more work to do on school finance, HB 2 provides good support for schools.
'We're in an environment where there's always more that we can do,' said Bernal, a San Antonio Democrat. 'I want to take stock of the good progress that we've made.'
Despite overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle, many Democratic members said the bill didn't do enough to help with the inflationary pressures many districts have been dealing with.
'This bill is not a breakthrough,' said Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin. 'It's barely a stopgap. The pie is not big enough, and when it's not big enough, we end up fighting one another.'
The House will still have to take a final vote on HB 2 before the chamber finally advances the proposal to the Senate.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas House gives initial OK to $7.7 billion school funding package