The Texas House took one step toward an agreement with the Senate on how to improve the state’s school finance system Monday, by preliminarily passing a bill that would create a commission to study future reforms.
The lower chamber voted 142-2 to tentatively pass Senate Bill 16, which tasks a 15-member commission of legislators and educators with figuring out how to relieve financial pressure on public schools and better fund the education of certain disadvantaged student groups.
The bill still requires a final vote in the House, before going back to the Senate. House Public Education Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, R-Houston, suggested the House would only take a final vote on the commission if the Senate agreed to pass his House Bill 21, which would provide an immediate increase in funding for public schools.
He called the two measures a “package deal” Monday. “We wanted some real action on school finance,” he said. The upper chamber is set to discuss Huberty’s HB 21 this afternoon.
The two chambers have been at odds on how best to reform the state’s troubled school finance system. The House wants to put more money into public schools immediately, arguing the issue has been studied to death. Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, likened the House’s plan to driving a broken down car to the ground. Gov. Greg Abbott initially only included establishing a school finance commission in his special session priorities before expanding them to allow lawmakers to consider major reforms.
The study would create a plan for a long-term redesign of a beleaguered funding system that has been the subject of several court cases. In the meantime, HB 21 would make some immediate, necessary changes, said state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the House sponsor of SB 16.
King accepted several amendments from other House members designed to broaden the commission’s scope to study more issues including teacher pay and recruitment, the cost of special education services, and public education revenue sources other than local property taxes. He also accepted an amendment requiring the commission to hold some public meetings outside of Travis County.
Fifteen people, including legislators, teachers and board members, would sit on the commission, appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and House Speaker. They would be directed to prepare a report with specific changes by the end of 2018, for the next Legislature to review and act upon in 2019.
Source: Texas Tribune Blue News
