Latest news with #HouseBillTwo
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
$8.5 billion school finance bill heads to Governor's desk for signature
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas House lawmakers gave the thumbs-up to a $8.5 billion school finance bill, which some in leadership called the largest investment in public schools in the state's history. But some school district leaders said they worry about the lack of local control. House Bill 2 is now heading to the Governor's desk for his signature. PREVIOUS: Texas Senate advances $8.5 billion increase to public school funding The additional dollars have an emphasis on raising the salaries of teachers with at least three years experience, while creating new guidelines for how the dollars can be spent by school districts. 'Texas is a big state,' said State Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, on the House floor prior to passage. 'Every district in our region, from El Paso to Orange and from Texoma to Brownsville, has varying needs and requests for specific support from this legislature. Satisfying all of those needs is an incredible, incredible undertaking, and I believe that this version of House Bill Two before you now meets that moment as passed by Senate.' Of the $8.5 billion in the bill, almost half — $4.2 billion — is dedicated strictly for teacher and staff pay raises. Teachers in smaller school districts will earn a $4,000 pay raise in their third year of teaching which will then double when they reach their fifth year of experience. Teachers in larger school districts with more than 5,000 students will receive $2,500 after three years and $5,000 after being on the job for five years. There is an additional $500 million in flexible funding for non-administrative staff pay raises for entry level teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, custodians and bus drivers along with other support staff. Related: A look inside the school finance and education savings account bills Mary Lynn Pruneda, director of education and workforce policy at Texas 2036, a nonpartisan policy research organization, said in total it is around an additional $1,600 per student in Texas. 'This is an investment in particularly paying teachers more. Paying our staff members in our districts more, but then also these certain programs that we know have a really high return on investment for students,' Pruneda said. Those programs include $677 million for early learning, $850 million for special education, and $153 million for career technical education. The bill sponsors also say it funds full-day pre-K. At least half of the state's public school districts are projected to receive at least $1,000 in additional per student funding with more than 350 of those districts receiving an additional $1,500 per student. There are more than 1,200 public school districts in Texas, all with their own unique challenges and needs depending on their size and location. Nexstar spoke to a few school leaders in districts with varying student population size. All the school leaders said they experienced some type of financial struggle over the past couple of years as the costs of day-to-day operations increased with a lack of additional funding from the state. School leaders in Thrall ISD, Mercedes ISD and Brownsville ISD all agreed they are grateful for any additional dollars from the state to go into their budget. Tommy Hooker, Thrall ISD superintendent, said the increase in teacher pay is monumental. His rural district with fewer than 900 students has grown in the past seven years, increasing by about 3% to 5% each year. Because of that, he's had to hire more staff without any additional financial assistance from the state and his teachers went without pay raises. Under the new bill, a majority of his teachers will see an $8,000 increase to their salary. 'We've not been able to do an increase like that ever locally,' Hooker said. He added that he believes the funding is 'adequate,' but expressed hesitations about the structure of the bill. Instead of pumping new dollars to raise the basic allotment, which is the base amount of money for per student funding, lawmakers decided to create separate allotments that have guidelines in how the dollars can be spent. They even created a new allotment called the allotment for basic costs. That allotment as $1.3 billion for costs like insurance premiums that are skyrocketing, costs associated with the Teacher Retirement System, utilities and transportation. Buckley said that allotment is to make sure the basic allotment dollars are being spent inside the classroom. But school leaders have expressed they are concerned this limits control at the local level. The basic allotment does provide more flexibility for school districts to use the money how they see fit, but the structure of this bill puts the new dollars into different sections that have a dedicated use. Dr. Jesus Chavez, Brownsville ISD superintendent, said the lack of state funding in recent years led to his school district and others dipping into their savings to cover rising costs. For his district, Chavez said he needs money to focus on renovations to older schools. 'They're giving us dollars but they're telling us where to spend them. Can I move five million or can I move eight million over to roofs and air condition systems? The answer is no,' Chavez said. Dr. Alicia Noyola, interim superintendent of schools for Mercedes ISD, said the district will close a couple of schools because of rising costs and limited funding. She too does not like the lack of flexibility with the new dollars. 'It doesn't provide us funds to address day-to-day operations,' Noyola explained. All of the superintendents said that they were happy with funds coming in, but that they hope to see additional dollars from the state in future sessions. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Big Country Politics: School vouchers & teacher raises under the microscope
BIG COUNTRY, Texas () – On this week's Big Country Politics, we're delving into the debate over school choice and hearing from both sides: Governor Greg Abbott and Bob Popinski, Senior Director of Policy for . WATCH: Gov. Abbott says Big Country will benefit from school vouchers, other legislative priorities Teacher pay has repeatedly been labeled an emergency item at the Capitol, and as lawmakers continue through the 89th legislative session, Governor Abbott says relief is finally on the way. 'I did make it an emergency item, because there are several criteria that lead to the best education. One of the foremost is having good-quality educators. To make sure we have those educators, we want to pay them and pay them more. We will be providing an all-time record amount of pay for teachers this session,' Abbott said. Popinski agreed that improving teacher pay is a priority, not only for Abbott but also for many in the Texas House and Senate. 'Texas ranks number 30 in the nation in teacher salaries, we're about $8,800 below the national average. So over the last handful of years, you've seen it harder and harder to attract and retain quality teachers in our public schools,' Popinski shared. 'There are some bills out there that will help increase teacher salaries. The Senate already passed Senate Bill 26, which would provide anywhere between a $2,500 raise and a $10,000 raise, depending on years of experience and the size of your school. The House has House Bill Two, which has some escalators in there for teacher salaries as well. So they're definitely paying attention to it.' Big Country Politics: Rep. Stan Lambert discusses hot topics in Texas, including school vouchers & healthcare monopolies With 5.5 million students and more than 380,000 teachers, Popinski says the top priority should be increasing the basic allotment in House Bill Two, which would set a higher per-student funding amount for public schools. 'But in order to do that, you need roughly $20 billion over the next two years just to give school districts the same purchasing power as they had back in 2019 and right now the bills moving through the process, I mentioned House Bill Two on the House side and Senate Bill 26, don't come close to that $20 billion amount,' Popinski explained. 'But at the end of the day, we are now competing with a voucher bill, Senate Bill Two, moving through the process that has a billion-dollar price tag on it. The first year of implementation is the 2627 school year, and it escalates to a cost of $4.8 billion by 2030.' However, Governor Abbott insists school choice and public school funding don't have to compete. 'We can have both. It's not one or the other. We can fully fund our public schools, which is what we're going to do, while at the same time providing a school choice option for parents across the region. We find it to be very effective in rural areas as well as suburban and urban areas,' Abbott said. 'The scope of this school choice program is smaller than that of one-quarter of charter schools. You haven't seen charter schools disrupt public schools in Abilene. Neither will you see school choice disrupt public schools in Abilene, San Angelo, or any other place like that.' Rep. Stan Lambert discusses election integrity, school vouchers & future goals for West Texas Popinski pushed back, arguing that public schools already offer a wide variety of options — with a level of oversight that private schools don't have to follow. 'We already offer great public school choice with great accountability. Students who go to public school-choice schools like Magnet programs or CTE programs have to follow the same rules as everyone else does. They have to follow the STAAR test. They have to follow the A through F accountability rating system. The school districts have to submit financial integrity ratings,' Popinski shared. 'When you go to a private school, they don't have to do any of that if they accept a student with an ESA program. Right now, the only thing those accredited private schools or vendors would have to do is provide a nationally normed reference test to those students in grades three through 12, and this bill, and that's kind of it. The comptroller has some accountability measures over them, but nothing compared to public schools.' As this legislation moves forward, Popinski stressed the financial strain districts are already facing. 'As you've seen in both the House bill and the Senate voucher bill program, is that over the course of just four years, it expands the $4.8 billion. If you look at the teacher pay raise bill right now, that the senate is offering, that's about the same they're offering for public school teacher pay raises,' Popinski said. 'Remember, there's 380,000 public school teachers and so we want, as we kind of move forward in the last 60 days, to make sure that that the legislature does its job, and make sure that the school districts have the resources needed so they can continue to provide a great education for our 5.5 million students.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
