Analysis: These Texas candidates are about to find out what they’ve really won!
The campaigns were long and hard, and now we know the winners. Let's look at what they're in for once they take office in 2019. Full Story
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![Texas House members huddled near the dais on Aug. 15, 2017. The House adjourned sine die one day before the Legislature's special session would have been forced to conclude.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Analysis: A tight-fisted Texas Legislature with expensive ambitions
State lawmakers are loath to raise taxes, but they need to find money somewhere if they want to give local school property taxpayers a break — a primary goal for many of the state's top leaders. Full Story
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As a deadline nears, struggle between George P. Bush and State Board of Education isn't letting up
Bush presides over the School Land Board, which has feuded with the State Board of Education over the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars from Texas' education endowment. Full Story
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![Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Dec. 5, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Behind closed doors, Greg Abbott’s office has pitched a plan to fix Texas school finance
The pitch includes capping increases in districts' property tax revenue and financial incentives to improve school performance. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a rally at the Capitol for school choice January 24, 2017. Both Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick spoke in favor of expanding school choice options. Students, educators, activists and parents marched on the south lawn to show their support for expanding school choice options during National School Choice Week.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas’ school finance problem in one pesky chart
A fresh update of a single budget chart shows who's paying for public education in Texas: More than half of the money comes from local property taxpayers, just over a third comes from the state, and the federal government spends about a dime of every dollar schools cost. Full Story
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![The Texas Legislative Budget Board, including House Speaker Joe Straus, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Jane Nelson, on Dec. 1, 2016.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Texas spent less on students with disabilities. But did it break the law?
Texas will argue Wednesday at a federal appeals court that its decision to decrease special education funding several years ago did not violate federal law. Full Story
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![Vanessa Tijerina addresses the panel about her 13-year-old special needs child who has been denied special education for four years on December 13, 2016. U.S. Department of Education officials held a meeting in Edinburg on their tour of Texas to hear community members' experiences with special education, continuing an investigation of whether Texas is capping services for students with disabilities.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Property taxes rise, state education spending falls. That's the design.
Early discussions about the next state budget include an old and politically hazardous debate: Property values are rising, meaning the local share of education spending will rise while the state share drops. Full Story
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![Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath testifies before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance about education outcomes on Jan. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Texas projects state funding for schools to drop as local revenue grows
In a preliminary budget request, the Texas Education Agency revealed it expects the state to put less money into public education next year because of fast-increasing local property values. Full Story
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![Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Texans think state leaders are falling short on public education, UT/TT Poll finds
Texas voters aren't satisfied with the state's handling of public education and don't always agree on whether paying for it should be a state or local duty, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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Analysis: For hints to next year’s fights at the Texas Capitol, watch the investment advisers
Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. The political debates of this election year will foreshadow some of the issues you'll see when the Texas Legislature meets next year, but some of the best clues — sports gambling is one example — come from the financial advisers to public sector investors. Full Story
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![A football match between Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. Texas A&M won 67-0. Prairie View got $450,000 for showing up.]()
Credit: Courtesy, Texas A&M Athletics -
Researcher has educators asking: If Kansas schools need $2 billion, how much do Texas' need?
Texas A&M University professor Lori Taylor stunned Kansas lawmakers by recommending they increase their school funding by 44 percent. But what does that mean for Texas? Full Story
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![Professor Lori Taylor, director of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy, in her office at Texas A&M University in College Station on March 27, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas is finding a new way to call itself a red state
Glenn Hegar, the state's comptroller of public accounts, is warning lawmakers that Texas' bond ratings are at risk because of a couple of pending expensive problems. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Full Story
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![Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar discusses the sources of state revenue as he presents the Biennial Revenue Estimate at the Texas Capitol on Jan. 9, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Will Texas school finance panel tell schools to do more with less? Some members think it’s predetermined
As Texas' school finance commission is set to hold its next hearing, some members and policy experts are arguing the hearings seem set toward a predetermined outcome — making schools do more with the funding they have. Full Story
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![Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister, chairman of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, listens to a commission member at the panel's second meeting on Feb. 8, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
After federal probe, parents say Texas districts lack funding, staff to help kids with dyslexia
A federal report said Texas policy on how to serve students with dyslexia violates federal law. State officials say the policy was originally created to address a gap in federal law. Full Story
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![Katharine Margiotta's 13-year-old son has severe dyslexia and attends a middle school in the Austin Independent School District.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
Local taxes in Texas have been rising to help pay for education. Who is to blame?
Lawmakers say local property taxes are getting too high. School leaders say the taxes are increasing because the state is taking on a smaller share of public education funding. Hey Texplainer, what's really happening? Full Story
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Analysis: On Texas’ high property taxes, there’s plenty of blame to go around
State lawmakers are not solely to blame for the increasing burden on local property taxpayers, but they are certainly as responsible as anyone else. Full Story
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![A lawmaker reads a flyer with property tax information that was distributed to Texas House members' desks on Aug. 12, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas’ most persistent policy problem
You wouldn’t be out of line wondering why Texas school finance didn’t get fixed in 2017. Or 2015. Or 2013. But it’s because this is a hard policy problem and a harder political one. The prompt now is that property taxes have gotten so far out of hand that lawmakers have no choice but to act. Full Story
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![State Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, l, chats at the lunch break with chairman Justice Scott Brister at the Texas Commission on School Finance meeting on Jan. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Texas panel set to discuss school finance fix. Can they iron out lawmakers’ disagreements?
The Texas Commission on Public School Finance will meet for the first time this week as it develops legislative recommendations for overhauling the state's beleaguered system for funding public education. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dan Huberty (left), R-Houston, and state Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Special education caps were the Texas Legislature's idea, educators say
In the wake of a federal report finding Texas was failing its kids with disabilities, educators say the state is to blame and that Texas legislators first suggested cutting back special education services to keep costs low. Full Story
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![Jean Gearhart gives a tearful statement with her husband Troy Gearhart to the panel about her special needs child. U.S. Department of Education officials held a meeting in Edinburg on their tour of Texas to hear community members' experiences with special education.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Analyses in the rearview mirror: School finance and property taxes
The end of the year is when property owners have to pay their taxes — an increasingly large bill in Texas that’s a key part of the state’s rickety school finance system. Here’s a sampling of columns tracking that debate in 2017. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman