As Legislature gavels out, local educators weigh in
Area superintendents are giving the Legislature mixed marks after lawmakers approved the Senate’s version of House Bill 2, which increases teacher pay but only provides a small boost to student allotments.
The 89th legislative session ended Monday and Gov. Greg Abbott, who listed teacher pay raises as an emergency item, is expected to sign the bill into law.
The legislation — approved Friday — will put “Texas on the pathway to be the best state in the nation for education,” Abbott said in a prepared release.
“This decision carries significant implications for next year’s budget, staff pay raises and the future of our public schools,” said Taylor Independent School District Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen. “School districts across Texas urgently need the long-overdue funding increases … Our students and educators deserve the stability and support this funding would provide.”
HB2 adds $8.5 billion to teacher and staff pay, school safety, expansion of student career training programs and funds for other public-school needs.
“This critical school finance legislation is the largest public education funding increase in Texas history,” Abbott said.
While HB2 does provide $4.2 billion for teacher pay raises, the Senate cut the basic allotment amount suggested by the House from a $395 increase per student to $55. The allotments are based on daily student attendance.
Proponents of the edited bill, including Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-The Woodlands, call it “historic and exciting,” according to a prepared release.
Not everyone had the same response, include Elgin Independent School District Superintendent Jana Rueter, who labeled it “a substitute bill.”
Many educators, while pleased by the teacher pay raises, had hoped lawmakers also would increase student allotments to offset other economic factors.
Prior to the passing of HB2, the Hutto Independent School District held its board meeting two days, where trustee James Matlock provided a recap of the Central Texas School Board Association meeting he recently attended.
The topic at CTSBA was HB2. Matlock said he and other area school board trustees believed there would be some kind of legislative message claiming HB2 would be the largest or biggest amount of money for school districts.
“And while $55 (increase in basic allotment) is something, it’s not filling the gaps of what schools need,” Matlock said.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows argued with detractors who, like Matlock, pointed out the shortfall in the basic allotment.
“Looking at one number and not what the entire bill does, I don’t think is what we need to be doing,” the Lubbockbased Republican said, according to a release.
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, however, agreed with Matlock. Eckhardt is the former Travis County judge.
“Eight and a half billion dollars is a significant and essential investment in our neighborhood public schools, but it is not a commitment of state dollars that grows with the needs of our growing state,” she said in a statement.
The senator suggested taxpayers would pick up the slack in needed funds within a few years.
Also during the session, lawmakers at the Capitol approved a $1 billion private-school voucher bill.
“Today is the culmination of a movement that has swept across our state and across our country,” Abbott said. “It’s time we put our children on a pathway to have the No. 1-ranked education system in the United States of America.”
The new voucher law provides students $10,000 a year to be put toward private-school tuition, tutoring, textbooks and other expenses tied to learning.
