Texas teacher pay, public school funds revamped

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports a deal on a sweeping plan to pump $8.5 billion to Texas public schools has been struck. A compromise between the Texas House and Senate will maintain the lower $55 per-student increase to the basic allotment but adds an additional $500 million for fixed costs to the plan, lawmakers and several aides working on the deal told The Dallas Morning News. The agreement also could end an impasse on at least one other priority bill, a proposal to ban or regulate the sale of hemp-derived THC. The proposal creates a new $1.3 billion fixed-cost allotment to help schools pay for transportation, health insurance, utilities and contributions to the Teacher Retirement System that will result from educator pay raises also included in the bill, according to details obtained by The News and confirmed by the head of the House’s education committee, Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado.

“5.5 million Texas kids and hundreds of thousands of teachers are depending on us,” Buckley said to reporters at the Capitol. “And so, you know, I am, I’m confident that this will, this will be delivered on behalf of those kids.” Buckley said the fixed-cost allotment came after discussions with school officials about where they were facing budget pressure. “It meets that moment,” Buckley said. Other areas of funding include $850 million for special education, $430 million for school safety programs and $200 million for charter school facilities. The bill could come up for a vote in the Senate as soon as Thursday. Texas public schools receive $6,160 per student in that base amount now. They get additional state dollars based on various factors, such as for special education, career technical programs, safety needs and more. Lawmakers worked behind closed doors late into the night Tuesday to strike a deal after the Senate’s version unveiled last week faced pushback from public school leaders and advocates for its restrictive structure. The amount of per-student state funding will not be increased beyond what Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, proposed in the Senate’s version of the finance bill.