Texas sends $8.5 billion school funding bill to Gov. Abbott: Here's what's in it

AUSTIN - As schools were dismissed for the summer across the state, the Texas Legislature passed a massive $8.5 billion school funding package.

House Bill 2 was sent to Governor Abbott's office on Thursday night. The funding plan looks to provide much-needed dollars to a public school system that has struggled under previous funding formulas.

"Satisfying all of those needs is an incredible undertaking, and I believe that this version of House Bill 2 before you now meets that moment," said State Rep Brad Buckley (R) Salado who sponsored HB2.

Teacher & Staff Pay Raises

By the numbers:

About half of the money, according to Buckley, $4.2 billion goes to pay & retention.  The money is to have a very specific pay out:

• $2,500 for teachers with three to four years of experience.
• $5,000 for teachers with five or more years of experience in districts with more than 5,000 students.
• $4,000 for teachers for three to 4 years
• $8,000 dollars for teachers with five more years of experience in districts with 5,000 or fewer students.
• $500 Million will go for support staff pay raises. Those that qualify include entry-level teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, custodians, bus drivers, and other support staff.

Harvey Kronberg with the Quorum Report says teacher was used as a political hostage by Governor Greg Abbott in the fight over school choice. Then it was used as leverage in the debate over banning unregulated THC products by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Final passage of HB2 may still bring political fallout.

"So, the philosophical difference is do you trust the local school boards, or do you trust the legislature? And I'll leave that to the public to decide," said Kronberg.

Other funds

By the numbers:

There are several funding carve-outs in HB2.

• $677 million for early learning programs.
• $430 million school safety.
• $850 million increase for special education.
• $200 million in charter facilities funding.
• $300 million increase for rural schools.
• $153 million for career and Vo-Technical
• $135 million for teacher certification initiatives

There were also questions about how the legislation creates a new $1.3 billion allotment for basic costs. That, according to Buckley, is money for insurance premiums, TRS costs, utilities, transportation.

School funding bill reaction

What they're saying:

"I'll be voting for it. As I've said before, I would vote for a $1 increase to public education," said state Rep. James Talarico during Thursday’s final discussion on HB2. 

The Round Rock Democrat noted while HB2 is large, from him, it gets a failing grade for keeping pace with inflation. HB2 is a mixed bag for public education advocates like Heather Sheffield.

"It is great news, it's amazing. However, we just still have some concerns," said Heather Sheffield. 

Sheffield, who is with the Association of Texas Professional Educators, spoke to FOX7 about those concerns.

"It really hamstrings the way that districts can spend the money because it was given in such a way that it must be spent in certain areas. And so it does complicate matters a little bit," said Sheffield. 

The next step may still involve damage control on the local level. 

"Unfortunately, we're going to see some things happening in the interim with districts having to cut their budgets and again, because 86% of most district budgets are staff. I think we're unfortunately going to see some staff reductions and more school closures around the state," said Sheffield.

A big unknown is how separate legislation dealing with property taxes will impact local school budgets.

"A lot of the allotments are also tied to a raise in property values, and if there is not a raise in property values we're going to have an issue there too. So again, this is great news in some aspects, but it is a cautionary tale because there is going to be more help needed in the future," said Sheffield.

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