Press Conference on Funding Recommendations
On March 23, Florence Shapiro, along with Senators Patrick, Duncan, Estes, Fraser, Huffman, and Nelson held a press conference to reaffirm that their most important priority this session is education. Senator Shapiro stated that public education funding in Texas is facing a “perfect storm” and that cuts to the education budget are “inevitable.”
The Senator explained the following priorities during the press conference:
- Protecting the classroom – Shapiro offered that first cuts should not come from the classroom but come from the administrative side, noting that if only 10 percent of non-teaching services were cut, there would be a $2 billion savings over the biennium.
- Remove unfunded mandates – Senators are working to remove mandates placed on school districts. According to Shapiro, through removing these “onerous burdens,” school districts would be able to free up valuable resources to preserve teaching positions.
Unfunded Mandate Bills
HB 400 (Eissler) seeks to give local school districts additional flexibility and tools to improve efficiency and better serve Texas students. During the committee hearing in House Public Education on March 15, several superintendents spoke in support of the bill noting that with changes to the 22 to 1 provision, changes in teacher contract provisions as well as other provisions, districts could reduce the impact of budget cuts they will see within their respective districts.
The bill received opposition from major teacher associations. HB 400 is still pending.
HB 500 (Eissler) relating to end-of-course (EOC) assessments addresses several areas including:
• Local district control over the use of EOC scores for final exams,
• Relaxing of the number of tests students must pass to graduate, and
• Allowing a transition period for the first two cohorts of test takers.
There was also discussion during the hearing concerning support materials which are needed to move ahead with implementation of the STAAR tests and EOC exams.
Some offered testimony against the bill feeling that the new language within HB 500 would allow for diluted assessments. HB 500 was voted favorably from the committee on March 24 and now goes to the House Calendars Committee
Senate Finance
On March 24, the Senate Finance Committee voted 13-2 to add $5.7 billion to their initial proposal for public education spending. Included in that amount is funding for instructional materials and various grant programs. “The base bill was absolutely not acceptable… and there was no one that disagreed with that,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro. “We did the best we could and put a significant amount of money back in.”
Although the additions make this budget higher than last biennium in all funds, it was noted that the amounts are still about $4 billion below current law funding levels due to certain cost drivers such as 80,000 new students entering school districts next year and a similar number of new students expected in the following school year.
Shapiro also gave the caveat that any education funding is dependent upon the passage of a school finance reform bill, SB 22, which has not been set for a hearing date as of Friday morning. Without that, she said, “then none of this works.” Sen. Kel Seliger told the committee that he is working on his own school funding proposal addressing the equity issues he saw in the current plan. He’ll have that ready within the next few weeks.
The House budget bill, HB1 has added $1.8 billion into the initial proposal for public education spending. The House’s 2012-13 budget bill has been placed on the House calendar for April 1.
