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The Texas House filed legislation Thursday that would increase the amount of funding public schools receive per student by $220, a figure that public education advocates say falls short of what they have been asking for in recent years.
House Bill 2 — filed by Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado — would increase the base amount that schools receive from the state per student each school year from $6,160 per pupil to $6,380.
The bill was filed the same day the House unveiled its school voucher proposal, also authored by Buckley. House Bill 3 would cre ate a voucher-like program known as education savings accounts that would allow parents to use taxpayer money to help fund their children’s private school tuition. Under the proposal, each student participating in the state’s voucher program would get about 85% of the money the state gives public schools per student each year.
Public school administrators and education advocates have been asking for an increase to the basic allotment to account for recent high inflation and higher costs since the COVID-19 pandemic. Several school districts have been forced to pass deficit budgets in the last few years. The allotment hasn’t been increased since 2019 and recent efforts to do so have been unsuccessful.
Two years ago during the previous state legislative session, lawmakers failed to increase the funding allotment or teacher pay despite having a $32.7 billion budget surplus at their disposal. House Democrats and rural Republicans that session banded together to defeat voucher legislation, but it came with a cost. Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s top school voucher advocate, vowed to veto any legislation that increased public school funding that didn’t include a voucher program.
HB 2 would also require that school districts use at least 40% of any funding increases received from the basic allotment to pay for raises for teachers and other district employees — higher than the current 30% requirement. Such a boost would only allow for small raises for teachers, said Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association.
The average teacher salary in Texas is $60,716, which ranks 30th in the nation, according to the National Education Association, an organization tracking educator pay across the United States. Earlier this week, the Senate proposed its own increases to teacher pay based on experience and performance.
Robison said neither the increase to public school funding nor the changes to employee compensation included in HB 2 come close to what schools need. To account for inflation, schools need at least $1,000 more per student than what the basic allotment currently provides, he said.
“This is wholly inadequate. They have to do better and they can do better,” Robison said of lawmakers’ efforts.
State Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos told The Texas Tribune on Thursday that the allotment increase that has been proposed is an “insult,” especially considering the Senate’s voucher proposal would allow families to receive more in taxpayer dollars — at least $10,000 a year per student — to help them pay for their children’s tuition at accredited private schools.
“I think it’s a complete insult,” Rodríguez Ramos said. “It’s just another way for them to continue to dismantle our public education.”
HB 2 would also create new restrictions on uncertified teachers in Texas public schools. The proposal would not allow schools to hire uncertified teachers to teach core curriculum courses, such as math, reading or science. In 2023, uncertified teachers accounted for nearly 40% of new hires in Texas school districts.
Disclosure: Texas State Teachers Association has been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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