Texas House Democrats are asking Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special legislative session to increase funding for public schools as the state's school districts grapple with multimillion-dollar budget deficits.
Mr. Abbott instead criticized the lawmakers who opposed last year's bill that would have increased education funding, but is mired in a controversial education voucher proposal that was the governor's signature priority and divided Texas House Republicans. I was hooked.
Democrats on Monday letter, written by U.S. Rep. John Rosenthal, D-Houston, focuses on increasing per-pupil funding, the basic building blocks of Texas public school funding, and investing more in school safety. He called for a special 30-day session. Thirty-nine Texas House Democrats signed the letter.
“Our public schools are the foundation of our communities, and it is imperative that we provide them with the resources they need to thrive,” Rosenthal said.
Many schools across Texas are facing a funding cliff as school districts finalize the details of their 2024-25 budgets.
In the Austin area, officials are facing an $89 million deficit on a district budget of $956 million. District leaders estimate the cuts could reduce the deficit to $59 million. Districts outside of Houston, such as the Cypress-Fairbanks district, are proposing to lay off hundreds of employees to cover multimillion-dollar deficits.
The extended 2023 Congress held four special sessions. During the 30-day session (outside the normal five-month legislative session), lawmakers focused on specific topics presented by the governor.
After failing to pass a comprehensive education funding bill in the regular session, subsequent attempts in the special session to increase funding for local school districts largely centered on Mr. Abbott's controversial school aid push. embroiled in a fierce political battle. The proposal would use public money to pay for students' private school tuition, and the governor spent a year promoting the idea in the state, calling on religious leaders to champion it from the pulpit. .
However, the school choice bill divided House Republicans and failed to clear the hurdles needed to cross the finish line. Supporters argued the program would give disadvantaged children more opportunities, but others, many from rural areas, said the proposal would only bleed into already cash-starved public schools. He claimed that.
During the fourth special session in November, Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, who led the House Education Committee, announced a $7.6 million package allocating millions of dollars to public education and a high-profile voucher program. attempted to submit it to the House of Commons. .
Mr. Abbott on Monday responded to Mr. Rosenthal's letter by criticizing Democratic lawmakers who signed the request for a special session, noting that they “voted to kill that package.”
“The makeup of the Texas House has not changed since you rejected that proposal, which means that unless you are willing to change your stance in support of Buckley’s bill, the bill will be passed in another special session. Not a possibility,” Abbott wrote.
On November 17, 21 House Republicans joined all Democrats in removing the voucher bill from House Bill 1, Buckley's education package. The chamber never voted on HB 1 after Buckley removed it from the calendar when lawmakers removed Abbott's signature program from the bill. The governor had threatened lawmakers that he would not approve increased spending on public education unless they first passed a voucher program.
Abbott instead blamed the funding shortfall on declining student enrollment and the deadline for districts to use federal coronavirus relief funds.
Throughout 2023, lawmakers and school officials gathered at the Capitol to argue that state education funding was not keeping up with the cost of inflation.
A January analysis by the American-Statesman found that, after adjusting for inflation, per-student funding from state and local sources has decreased by 12.9% since 2020, compared to $11,919.13 per student in 2020. , this year it was $10,387.03.