WEEK IN REVIEW

SENATE ROLLS OUT EIGHT BILLION DOLLAR SCHOOL FINANCE PROPOSAL

(AUSTIN) — The Senate Committee on Education K-16 considered the session’s premiere education funding bill as lawmakers look to deliver on a promise to put more money into public education this session than ever before. The version of HB 2 presented to the committee would quadruple the average amount of new public education funding appropriated in a given session, allocating $8 billion in new funds, most of which will go towards teacher pay. Bill sponsor, committee chair, and Conroe Senator Brandon Creighton said it’s the most any Texas legislature has ever increased education funding. “Very exciting and historic dollars for our public schools,” he said. “More than any public education package that we’ve ever passed – every single district, from Beaumont to El Paso, from Wichita Falls to McAllen benefits.”

The bill’s centerpiece is a $4.2 billion increase to teacher compensation and the creation of a permanent teacher retention allotment, separate from the basic allotment, the variable used to calculate the level of funding an individual district receives. Decoupling teacher pay from the basic allotment in this way will give districts more flexibility on how to spend basic allotment money, said Creighton. “Because we are shifting billions and billions of dollars off of the basic allotment, and creating a new permanent teacher allotment, that basic allotment is now freed up,” he said. Eighty percent of these funds will be dedicated to an across the board teacher pay raise for teachers with at least three years of experience, and attempts to close some of the gap between urban and rural teacher salaries. Teachers with three to four years in the classroom would see a $2,500 annual pay raise if they teach in an urban district, and $5,000 if they are in a rural school. Teachers with five or more years would get $5,500 and $10,000 in urban and rural districts, respectively. The permanent teacher pay allotment would also apply to teachers when they enter the profession, seeing the same pay bumps in year three and five represented by the raises for current teachers. The bill also expands the state’s merit bonus program that lets schools identify their best teachers and pay them more, increasing the percentage of teachers eligible for the program to fifty percent, as well as increasing awards.

The bill also includes $1.3 billion in new funds for special education, $500 million for school safety, and money to pay to better train teachers and get uncertified teachers credentialled, among a number of other outlays.

Also this week the Senate approved a massive increase in the exemptions for the taxes businesses must pay on personal property as part of a deal with the House on how to achieve billions in property tax savings this session. The House will pass the Senate’s plan to cut property taxes for homeowners by raising the homestead exemption to $140,000 for most homeowners, and $200,000 for senior or disabled homeowners. The Senate approved the House plan to cut business taxes through the business personal property exemption, raising that from $2,500 to $125,000. This will save businesses thousands of dollars every year, said bill sponsor and Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt. “When we combine HB 9 with SB 4 and SB 23, we basically have property tax relief for all home and business owners in the state of Texas,” said Bettencourt.

The Senate also passed another bail reform measure Wednesday aimed at repeat violent offenders. Bill author and Houston Senator Joan Huffman told members that state crime data shows that nearly two-thirds of the 30,000 people processed on charges of the most serious crimes under Texas law had bond amounts set at less than $50,000. This includes 23 individuals accused of murder given bonds of less than $100. Her bill, SJR 87, would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would require that judges deny bail to anyone charged with one of several violent felony offenses if they have a previous conviction for one, or are out on bond for one.

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