Campaign Finance

Texas House committee backs budget plan with extra $9 billion for school finance, property tax reform

House Appropriations Chair John Zerwas is shown during a 2018 interview with The Texas Tribune. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune

A panel of House budget writers gave initial approval Monday to a budget that would spend $115 billion in state funds, including a $9 billion infusion of new funds for Texas public schools and property tax relief.
Now that the House Appropriations Committee has approved the 2020-21 spending plan, House Bill 1, the legislation moves to the floor of the 150-member House.
“I believe that we can all be very proud of the bill that you’ve all worked so hard on,” state Rep. John Zerwas, a Richmond Republican and the chamber’s chief budget writer, told fellow House Appropriations Committee members.
State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, was the committee’s lone no vote.
The budget plan would spend $2 billion from the state’s savings account, known as the Economic Stabilization Fund, which currently holds more than $11 billion.
The total two-year budget would spend state, federal and local funds totaling about $250 billion. After considering a limit imposed by the Texas Constitution, House lawmakers left about $500 million on the table, according to testimony from the Legislative Budget Board.
Among the highlights of the House’s spending plan are:

  • $9 billion in new state funding for K-12 education and property tax relief, contingent on lawmakers passing reforms to the way the state funds public schools. The budget does not dictate the breakdown of those funds, but a bill backed by Speaker Dennis Bonnen would give about $6 billion to school districts and use the remaining $3 billion to pay for a reduction in local school district property taxes.
  • A $2.8 billion increase in state and federal funds for health and human services above what the House proposed in January. That includes a $25 million increase for early childhood intervention services, $6.7 million to reduce caseloads for Adult Protective Services workers, $31 million to expand capacity at local mental health clinics for low-income Texans and $87 million to raise the pay of personal attendants, who care for the elderly and disabled, by about 10 cents an hour.
  • A $168 million expenditure to give some Texas prison guards and parole officers a pay raise.

This story originally appeared on the Texas Tribune. To read this article in its original format, click here.

Edgar Walters, The Texas Tribune

Edgar Walters is the health and human services reporter and an associate editor for The Texas Tribune.

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