Texas budget writers want $1 billion for school vouchers, $5 billion for teacher pay raises

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports the Legislature is proposing $1 billion for school voucher programs over the 2026-27 biennium, solidifying a commitment to the controversial program that’s become a top priority for Republican state leaders, according to proposed budget numbers released by the House and Senate on Wednesday. The program, which would use public money to help pay for private schooling, bitterly divided Republican lawmakers two years ago. In both the House and Senate budget proposals, school vouchers would receive top dollar, according to news releases from Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The issue in 2023 divided House Republicans, with some GOP members from rural communities joining Democratic lawmakers to defeat the proposal. In response, three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott launched a bitter and largely successful campaign in the 2024 elections to oust Republican officials who voted against the school vouchers proposal.

`The Senate’s preliminary budget also proposes $4.9 billion to increase teacher pay and to change the Teacher Incentive Allotment program, which rewards teachers in certain subject areas whose students perform well on state tests. The funding would increase teachers’ pay by $4,000 and give rural educators an additional $6,000, according to Patrick’s statement. The spending proposals are part of the separate House and Senate budget bills that will guide state spending for the two-year cycle that begins Sept. 1. By releasing their budget drafts just over a week after the 140-day legislative session began Jan. 14, both chambers signaled that they intend to get off to a fast start when it comes to staking out their spending priorities. In laying out education priorities, both chambers also are proposing $400 million for school safety. In 2023, lawmakers passed a set of safety requirements for districts in the wake of the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.