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The Texas Legislature is still ironing out some wrinkles in a school financing plan. House Bill 3 has been sent to a conference committee where five representatives from the Texas House and five representatives from the Texas Senate are working to adjust the differences between the two chambers on how the bill should be handled. The committee will have to come to an agreement before Gov. Greg Abbott can sign it into law. According to the Texas Legislature’s website, the bill was slated for a hearing in committee last Friday and has not yet gone to the governor’s desk.
A representative from the office of Rep. Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood) explained HB3 as an attempt “to realign the school finance system with teacher pay increases, doing away with the Robin Hood formula and creating proper funding mechanisms for the classrooms and school system as a whole.”
HB3 raises the allotment that school districts would receive per student, increases the minimum teacher salary schedule, lowers property taxes and establishes a program to fund full-day pre-kindergarten for low-income students, among other measures. However, the House and Senate are at odds on how to offer teacher pay raises and property tax relief.
“I will say that this is the first attempt to address a situation that has been affecting the students of Texas for many years, and for that we are appreciative,” San Marcos CISD Superintendent Michael Cardona said of the legislation. “I appreciate that more money is infused into the system to help both students and staff, but I would like for our locally-elected school boards to determine how best to use those funds for our community.
“I appreciate the emphasis placed on funding full-day pre-k but I am opposed to the amendments that would add more testing or any more unfunded mandates on to already overburdened teachers. Hopefully, the legislature is creating a system that requires school finance and property tax reform to be addressed bi-annually.”
Cardona also said that he appreciated Zwiener’s outreach to school district officials about the issue of school financing.
“I would like to thank Representative Zwiener who reached out to several superintendents and asked key questions seeking feedback during the session. This was the first time I can remember having a representative who actively sought to engage superintendents in the policy process.”
