There are a little over 20 days left in the 89th legislative session, and deadlines for bills to pass are approaching quickly. We hope that the Senate Committee on Education K-16 will hear HB 2 this week.
HB 2 by House Public Education Committee Chairman Brad Buckley cleared the House and is now in the Senate waiting to be heard by the Senate Committee on Education K-16. That committee’s chairman, Sen. Brandon Creighton, is expected to carry HB 2 in the Senate. HB 2 provides historic funding for public schools of almost $8 billion. Significant funding in the bill as passed by the House includes an:
- increase in the basic allotment from $6,160 to $6,555, which includes an automatic pay raise for teachers (not administrators)
- increase in the small and midsize adjustments,
- moves special education funding to intensity-based funding, and
- provides relief for school districts that fail their property value study, among other things.
School districts have not had a substantial increase in funding from the state since 2019. Couple the lack of substantial increase in state funding with years of record-breaking inflation, and districts are faced with cutting staff and programs, closing schools, drawing on reserved funds for ongoing staff pay increases, and adopting deficit budgets.
Contact your senator today and urge them to ensure HB 2 as passed by the Senate includes the $7.7 billion level of funding. The bill should also retain these features from the House and that includes:
- discretionary funding for school districts through increasing the basic allotment ($6,555), which includes an automatic pay increase for teachers
- an increase in the small and midsize adjustment
- more funding for special education and use of the intensity-based funding model
- Retire/rehire surcharge grant funding
- State aid for insurance in catastrophe designated coastal counties.
Thank your senator for their efforts funding schools this session. Share with them the current financial constraints in your school district and what the House runs say your school district will receive under HB 2 as passed by the House. Provide them with specific information on how your district will utilize those funds for your students and schools. Examples might include hiring teachers to lower class sizes; expanding or reopening programs cut or reduced in the last several years; improving pay for staff other than teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians. This might include bus drivers, custodians, maintenance works and child nutrition groups. A key point to share would the need for discretionary funding to reduce deficit budgets.
Contact information for Senate Education K-16 Committee members here
Contact information for all Texas senators here
