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House Bill 1525 is billed as the “clean up” measure that addresses unintended consequences of school finance reforms passed in 2019. However, the Senate version of HB 1525 goes much further and could lead to funding reductions for many school districts. It would also severely limit districts’ ability to use federal education funds as intended.

The House Bill 3 school finance legislation passed in 2019 invested billions of new dollars in public education, but the new law’s changes to funding formulas left some districts with less funding. The Legislature put Formula Transition Grants in place to ensure districts received a minimum increase. FTGs make the law adopted in 2019 better than the law we had before; without it (or with it at a reduced amount), that isn’t the case.

In simple terms, fund balance is the difference between assets and liabilities in a governmental fund as of the close of the fiscal year. School districts use their fund balances to responsibly manage cash flow — especially in districts that pay recapture and cannot lean on regular state funding.

Rather than trying to determine how to distribute federal dollars to the schools that need them, Texas is trying to withhold them. Some 40 states have started distributing dollars to their schools, but Texas has not.

Locally elected school boards should have the flexibility to make decisions that are best for their communities’ unique needs.

In order to meet the state’s future workforce needs and give all Texas children the opportunity to succeed, it is critical that the state continue to invest in public education.