Texas Legislature approves $8.5 billion boost for public schools after years of stagnant funding

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The Texas House on Thursday gave the final stamp of approval to legislation authorizing roughly $8.5 billion in funding for public schools, sending the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk where it is soon expected to become law.

Final passage of House Bill 2, which will give schools additional money for teacher and staff salaries, educator preparation, special education, safety requirements and early childhood learning, comes on the heels of extensive negotiations between the House and Senate over how the final version of the bill would look.

Abbott has already said he intends to sign the bill, a notable difference from two years ago when he and the Legislature withheld billions from public schools following a failed attempt to create a private school voucher program. This year, lawmakers vowed to approve vouchers and new public school funding in tandem. The Legislature finalized the education finance package on a 122-13 vote nearly a month after vouchers officially became law.

The new dollars in HB 2 will allow school districts to begin making a dent in some of their long-standing challenges — a laundry list of items that includes reversing budget deficits, providing raises to full-time employees and keeping up with rising operational costs.

Before the legislation’s final passage on Thursday, Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, raised questions about the bill, underscoring that public schools’ dire situation is partly the result of stagnant funding since 2019, the year lawmakers last raised schools’ base dollars and passed a comprehensive education finance package.

He sought to have Republican Rep. Brad Buckley of Salado, the bill sponsor, answer why the Republican-led Legislature has not passed major school funding legislation since then, including last session when the state had a historic $32.7 billion budget surplus at its disposal.

The House public education chair only had a few moments to answer the question before lawmakers’ speaking time expired, but his response instead focused on HB 2’s investments in the basic costs of running a school and paying teachers what they deserve.

HB 2 will provide districts with a $55 per-student increase to their base funding — a number short of the $395 per student hike proposed by the House earlier in the session and far less than the roughly $1,300 school officials said they needed to keep up with inflation. That base funding, known as the basic allotment, provides districts the most flexibility to address the range of needs on their campuses, from salaries and maintenance to instructional materials and athletics.

The bill raises educator pay, which represents more than $4 billion of the proposal’s overall funding. To do so, it dictates:

• Teachers with three to four years of experience in school districts with 5,000 or fewer students will receive a $4,000 raise, while those with five or more years of teaching on their resume will earn $8,000.
• Teachers with three to four years of experience in school districts with more than 5,000 students will earn a $2,500 raise, while those with five or more years of experience will receive $5,000.

HB 2 also includes funding for an expansion of the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a state program that awards raises to educators who demonstrate that they have improved their students’ academic outcomes — currently about 6% of teachers.

In place of a significant boost to the basic allotment, the bill will give districts $45 per student that they can only use to increase the salaries of school counselors, librarians, nurses and other support staff. The bill also grants schools $106 per student to pay costs associated with transportation, insurance, utilities and hiring retired educators, which has become more common as schools struggle to fill teacher vacancies.

Furthermore, the legislation will overhaul Texas’ special education funding system to account for the individual needs of each student; establish a compensation system for educator preparation and mentorship programs; set aside money for schools to better identify learning difficulties among the state’s youngest students and fund prekindergarten services; and increase the money districts receive for safety upgrades.

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