Texas Senate committee debates nearly $8B public school funding bill
Texas Senate committee on public school funding bill
A Texas Senate committee will take up the largest public school funding bill in state history on Thursday.
Texas Senate debates $8B public school funding bill
A Texas Senate committee will take up the largest public school funding bill in state history on Thursday.
AUSTIN - A Texas Senate committee will take up the largest public school funding bill in state history on Thursday.
House Bill 2 would dedicate nearly $8 billion to key parts of the public education system.
House Bill 2
What we know:
HB 2 increases per-student funding, teacher pay, and special needs funding, among other things.
Only four members of the Texas House voted against it.
The House proposal talks about raising the base funding for each student from $6,160 to $6,555.
Some lawmakers expressed concern that HB 2’s $7.7 billion for public schools is not enough to account for inflation.
The Texas Legislature has not raised the basic allotment since 2019.
Notable changes in Senate committee
One major change in the committee substitute bill is a change in the base funding for students. The House version of the bill wanted to add $395 per student to the base funding. The Senate change would add just $55 per student.
Sen. Brandon Creighton addressed the change during the early session of the education committee Thursday, saying the allotment amounts to around $800 million in new dollars going to school districts.
Creighton said the change was made to allow for a separate allocation to teacher raises beginning in their third year. With the per student funding not going towards teacher raises, the funds can be used for pay increases for other staff.
Also in the bill is funding to help teachers get certified. Creighton said more than half of all incoming teachers were not certified. The bill includes provisions for notifying parents when a non-certified teacher is teaching.
"Our parents would like to know that, especially in our early years of foundational instruction," Creighton said. "That's very important."
Creighton said the bill includes multiple pathways to certification, like residency programs, traditional university programs and pre-service programs.
Funding for pre-K programs at schools where a teacher teaches is also included.
"We're making sure that they don't have to come out-of-pocket for their own kids to be in a pre-K program in the school that they teach in," Creighton said.
The Senate bill increases special education funding in schools from $700 million to $1.3 billion.
"That's an example of where the rest of the money lies," Creighton said. "Permanent teacher pay, billions of dollars. Special education money, $1.3 billion, instead of where we were at, nearly half of that."
In short, the bill includes several other Senate bills as an omnibus bill to carry those bills forward. Included in the bill are Senate Bill 26, which relates to teacher pay.
It also includes provisions from Senate Bill 27, which is the teacher’s bill of rights; Senate Bill 2252, which funds pre-K programs for teachers; Senate Bill 1826, which funds career and technology training; and Senate Bill 568, which covers special education funding.
Thursday committee meeting:
The Texas Senate Committee on Education discussed the bill on Thursday.
Senator Royce West of Dallas was critical of parts of the bill. Specifically, the differences in teacher pay raise for charter schools vs. public schools.
"The teachers that are able to stay at least three years in a charter school are able to get 10K, whereas in public school, a certified teacher would only get 5K, Am I correct?"
70 people waited at least ten hours to give public comment on Thursday.
There was a mixed bag of those who supported the changes and those who didn’t.
Some of the public comments came from school district leaders.
The Texas State Director of Ed Trust Texas, Jonathan Feinstein, pointed to the inflation caused by 2019's House Bill 3.
"This surpasses what we did in 2019 with HB3. For those who do focus narrowly on the basic allotment, this adds a vehicle for future inflation tied to the golden penny yield," said Feinstein.
What's next:
No vote was taken Thursday night in committee. HB2 has to pass the senate before the end of the month.
If the bill passes the education committee, it will then go to the full Senate.
If it passes the Senate, then leaders would have to work out differences with the House before sending it to Gov. Abbott's desk.
There are currently differences between the two chambers on the basic allotment, how to fund teacher pay raises and special education funding and more.
The 89th Legislature comes to a close on June 2.
Education Savings Accounts
Gov. Greg Abbott signs school choice bill into law
Governor Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders celebrate the signing of Senate Bill 2 into law at a special event at the governor's mansion on May 3, 2025. Senate Bill 2 creates the largest day one school choice program in the country. In its first year, $1 billion in taxpayer money will be available to pay for private school costs.
Dig deeper:
House Bill 2 does not involve education savings accounts, which has already been signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
That bill, Senate Bill 2, sets aside taxpayer money for parents to pay for private schools.
In its first year, the program would be capped at $1 billion and used by up to 90,000 students, but it could grow to nearly $4.5 billion per year by 2030. The money can be used for private school tuition, as well as costs for home-schooling and virtual learning programs. Families could get up to $10,000 each year per student under the program, and a student with disabilities would be eligible for as much as $30,000 per year.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Texas Legislature, a May 15 hearing in the Texas Senate education committee and past FOX coverage.