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Special Session Does Little to Address Dwindling State Aid to Districts
by Dax Gonzalez
Legislators Head Home, Again
Capital Watch
the basic allotment for all students. This
serves to lower the recapture payments
of schools, move more schools off of
Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction
(ASATR), and provide more discretion for
districts seeking to address local needs.
The bill also included $200 million for
districts that were facing significant losses
from ASATR expiration later this year, adjustment of the small school district penalty, and $25 million for charter schools to
compensate for the lack of explicit facilities
funding.
Legislators were also considering other
education issues in separate bills, includ-
ing funding to reduce TRS-Care premi-
ums and provide teacher pay raises and
bonuses (Senate Bill 19/House Bill 198),
vouchers for children with special needs
(Senate Bill 2/House Bill 253), a commis-
sion to study school finance (Senate Bill
16/House Bill 191), and grant programs
for students with autism (House Bill 23).
The version of House Bill 21 that
eventually passed and secured Abbott’s
signature on August 16 incorporated many
issues that had been discussed over the
special session to include (in order of refer-
ence in the bill):
• $60 million for academically accept-
able charter schools to use for leasing,
paying off debt, or paying property taxes
on instructional facilities.
• $40 million for two grant pro-
grams—one for students with dyslexia and
the other for students with autism—to be
evenly divided. The two-year grants are
to be funded outside of the Foundation
The House and Senate adjourned sine
die on August 15, marking the end of the
first called session of the 85th Legislature.
Governor Greg Abbott had called upon
legislators to pass 20 items that he felt
were important to Texans following Senate
passage of sunset legislation. The Senate
raced through the early days of the special
session, passing legislation addressing al-
most all of the issues identified by the gov-
ernor. Some of these issues affected public
schools, such as teacher compensation
increases, a commission to study school
finance, vouchers for children with special
needs, regulation of public restrooms, and
prohibition of schools allowing teachers
to pay for association dues via paycheck
deductions.
The House, at least as it pertains to
education, went a different route and
attempted to revive its school finance fix
from the regular session: House Bill 21
by House Public Education Committee
Chair Dan Huberty (R-Houston). Huberty contended, as he did throughout
the regular session, that school finance
had been studied enough and that there
were schools that would not be around by
the time the next Legislature was able to
consider any recommendations made by a
school finance commission.
Senate Education Committee Chair
Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) insisted that
the current school finance system was akin
to a broken-down car, and the solution
was to implement a new system—not sink
more money into the broken one.
Final Version of House Bill 21
After much back and forth between
the House and Senate, only one bill passed
that really impacts public education:
House Bill 21. The bill, however, did not
end up quite as the House had hoped.
The House version pumped $1.8 billion
into public education, mostly to increase
