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TASB Legislative Report
Senate committees continue sprint
through special session
Texas Senate committees have been meeting since Friday to pass bills identified as priorities by Gov. Greg Abbott for the special session. On Friday, the Senate State Affairs and Education Committees took up some controversial bills dealing with bathroom regulation and vouchers.

The Senate State Affairs committee considered SB 3 (Kolkhorst) and SB 91 (Kolkhorst), which would require political subdivisions, including public schools, to designate their multiple-occupancy restrooms, showers and changing facilities for use only by persons of the same sex as stated on their birth certificates. The bills also prevent political subdivisions from protecting a class of persons not already protected in federal law from discrimination with regard to multiple-occupancy restrooms, showers, changing facilities and participation in athletic activities. TASB and the Texas Association of School Administrators submitted these letters opposing both bills on the grounds that local school districts know best how to work with local students, parents, staff and communities to determine local accommodations. After hours of testimony, mostly opposed to the bills, the committee passed the bill on to the full Senate. Read more from The Dallas Morning News and Texas Tribune.

The Senate Education Committee considered SB 2 (L. Taylor), which would create a tax credit scholarship program that would give companies a credit against their insurance premium taxes for donations to educational assistance organizations (EAOs) that provide private school tuition scholarships to selected students. The Texas comptroller would oversee these EAOs, which would be allowed to use 10 percent of donations for administration. EAOs may award 80 percent of scholarship money available to students attending private schools and 20 percent to district or charter students for facility fees, instructional materials, school supplies, tutoring, academic after-school programs, school or lab fees, before or after care, or transportation.

SB 2 also calls for $60 million to compensate charter schools for the lack of explicit facilities funding and would increase the Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) guaranteed yield per student per cent of tax effort from $35 to $40 while increasing EDA funding by $60 million. Finally, the bill would establish a $150 million financial hardship grant through which eligible districts and charters may apply for assistance if they are losing significant state funding.

Fort Bend ISD Board President Kristin Tassin testified on behalf of TASB against the bill, explaining that while some schools may not be meeting the needs of all students in special education at the moment, the legislature should be focused on improving public school special education programs and enforcing compliance with special education requirements before subsidizing a separate – and segregated – special education system through private schools. Tassin’s daughter, who receives special education services in Fort Bend, pleaded with lawmakers to provide adequate resources to public schools so that they can provide special education to children with special needs without having to leave friends and teachers for services elsewhere.

Senate Education then took up SB 16 (L. Taylor), which would establish the Texas Commission on Public School Finance with the responsibility of recommending improvements to the current school finance system or new methods of financing public schools. The commission would consist of four members appointed by the governor to include at least one member of the business community and one member of the civic community; four members appointed by the lieutenant governor and four members appointed by the speaker of the house, of which three in each group must be legislators and one in each group must be a school administrator or trustee; and a member of the State Board of Education as chosen by the SBOE chair. Witnesses who testified asked the committee to consider including a broader list of individuals on the committee to include more members of the public, retired administrators, and others.

Almost nine hours after starting the hearing, the committee voted SB 2 and SB 16 out of committee and onto the full Senate. Read more.

On Saturday, the Senate Select Committee on Government Reform met to discuss a proposal that would lower the rollback rate for the largest taxing units in the state. SB 1 (Bettencourt) would require an automatic tax ratification election if the rollback rate is exceeded, and make information about the tax rates proposed by local taxing units more accessible to property owners while facilitating communication between property owners and local elected officials about proposed tax increases. SB 1 primarily targets cities and counties to ensure that they lower their rollback rate from eight percent to four percent. But it is the provision that calls for an automatic tax ratification election (TREs) that applies to school districts. Under this proposal the multiple property tax protest deadlines are moved to a standardized date of May 15, ensuring that any TRE be held in November. The committee was still meeting as of this afternoon.

The Senate Finance Committee also met on Saturday to consider SB 19 (Nelson), which would create annual bonuses for teachers: $600 for teachers with 6 to 10 years of experience and $1000 for teachers with 11 years or more of experience. The bill would also call for a teacher salary increase from state funds specifically dedicated to this purpose. Each district would be required to spend an amount equal to $1,000 multiplied by the number of district classroom teachers. The amount of the specific increases could be distributed in a manner determined by the district’s board of trustees to be beneficial to the district. Finally, the bill calls for $212 million to each healthcare costs associated with recently passed premium increases associated with TRS-Care health insurance.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) explained that the money provided for these teacher incentives was “a bridge while we continue to work to solve our whole broader school finance issues. This will get us to the next session.” Though, when discussing possible use of Rainy Day Funds to support public education, she said use of that fund was off the table because it was not a sustainable fix. 

Nelson said that while the current legislature cannot direct future legislatures on how to appropriate funds, she said she hoped most senators would be back and that they will prioritize teachers in next session’s budget.

TRS staff noted that healthcare costs continue to rise, and that the gap in TRS-Care will continue to grow by about a billion dollars every biennium for the next few years. 

An educator from Abilene, speaking on behalf of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said she and other educators do not want raises on the backs of their students and do not want to see unfunded pay raise mandates that could lead to cuts in other programs and services. 

The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill just before it adjourned for the day.
1101 Trinity Street | Austin, TX 78701 US
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