A new report from the House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment provides recommendations on a number of issues related to education policy in Texas. The report includes discussion of a voucher program that would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to attend private or home schools.
The property-tax legislation signed into law will help achieve a very important objective: It will reduce the amount of recapture paid by Texas taxpayers by 41 percent. There needs to be a balance between tax relief and more dollars for the classroom. Unfortunately, legislators have only completed half the job.
The Coalition offered testimony to the newly-appointed committee speaking to the rising costs of education, the different circumstances various districts face, the need to avoid funding cuts, and the need for public accountability for public funds.
Teachers, parents, administrators, school board trustees and others supporting public education expressed gratitude Monday to the bipartisan coalition in the Texas House who stood strong against Education Savings Account (ESA) vouchers for private schools throughout this year’s legislative session.
The Texas School Coalition testified Monday against the Texas Senate’s version of House Bill 100. The new Senate plan seeks to incorporate private-school vouchers into legislation that was otherwise meant to improve the state’s school finance system.
With just over a week left in the legislative session and key deadlines fast approaching, educators are concerned that the opportunity for robust, needed investments in public education is slipping away.
Dollars spent on property-tax relief are not investments in public education. Those dollars do not reach classrooms and they do not give schools more money to pay teachers and meet other needs.
The Coalition provided testimony to the House Public Education Committee for House Bill 100, which increases the Basic Allotment, requires a teacher pay increase, and makes other changes to the school finance formulas.
The Coalition provided testimony to legislative committees in both chambers regarding bills calling for increased funding for school safety.
The Coalition provided testimony to the Senate Education Committee on Senate Bill 9, which relates to an across-the-board pay raise for teachers, nurses, counselors, and librarians.