TCTA - Texas Classroom Teachers Association
04/17/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2025 11:01
House passes school finance, voucher bills
The Texas House passed two signature education bills on April 16: HB 2 by Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado) and SB 2 by Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe). HB 2 is the House's $7.7 billion school finance bill, which includes provisions for teacher salaries (retaining current law that also includes librarians, counselors and nurses in those provisions), while SB 2 is the school voucher bill, which the House substituted with its own version. Passage of the voucher bill, which has already received Senate approval (though with some differences) is a major defeat for education supporters.
HB 2 Press Conference
In a press conference just before the House convened, House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) spoke about "The Texas Two-Step," a phrase referencing two bills that are intended to pass together. Burrows highlighted HB 2, which would add $3 billion in new funding for teacher salary increases and $1.5 billion in new funding for special education.
Buckley, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, went into more detail on the bill, touting numerous provisions, including changes to the basic allotment formula that would now automatically increase each year, differentiated salary increases for veteran teachers, and investment in grow-your-own programs for school districts to produce more certified teachers. He thanked the committee's vice chairman, Rep. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio), for his hard work on the bill and presented it as evidence that bipartisanship is alive and well in the Texas House.
Bernal similarly thanked Buckley for his leadership and collaboration on HB 2, then went into more detail on some provisions. He explained that the changes to special education are not just an infusion of new money, but a change in how that money is allocated. The new model, based on "intensity of services," allocates funding depending on the need of a particular student, not just whether the student receives special education services. Bernal also spoke about increases to bilingual education weights, the first such change in almost two decades. Finally, he highlighted changes to prekindergarten funding, which would fund it for the whole day instead of a half day.
Buckley estimates that under the bill, teacher salaries would rise $3,500 to $7,000, but it is noteworthy that aside from the prioritization of veteran teachers, districts have a great deal of discretion over how raises are allocated.
House Floor Debate on School Finance
As with any major piece of legislation, HB 2 attracted many questions and proposed amendments from House members. Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) questioned Buckley on whether the bill would catch Texas school funding up with inflation, noting that districts estimate that a total increase in the basic allotment of $1,300 per student would be necessary to address inflation since 2019. Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) asked about a provision that would prohibit charter operators from conducting real estate transactions that directly benefit charter board members or other employees, and Buckley assured her that it is still in the bill, but had been moved to another section.
Of the amendments proposed, only those that Buckley had approved beforehand were successful. One amendment by Bernal, which aimed to shift some compensatory education funding to fund full-day pre-K, was somewhat derailed by an attempted amendment to that amendment by Rep. Alan Schoolcraft (R-McQueeney). Schoolcraft wanted to eliminate compensatory education entirely and instead increase the basic allotment by a significantly higher amount than HB 2 originally intended. Members on both sides of the aisle questioned Schoolcraft on the wisdom of dispensing of an entire allotment, and when asked for financial projections on the potential effects of doing so, he could not produce those numbers. After his amendment failed, Bernal's passed without issue.
Rep. John Bryant (D-Dallas) proposed several amendments, using one as an opportunity to comment on how poorly Texas funds its public schools, falling around 44th in the nation in per pupil funding. Other proposed amendments would require that charter schools hire only certified teachers, that the basic allotment be tied to the Consumer Price Index, that a certain percentage of the new money be spent on salary increases for school support staff, and that charter operators not use public money for civil liability settlements. All failed.
After hours of debate, the House passed HB 2, 144-4. The bill, after a final House vote Thursday, moves to the Senate. The Senate has passed legislation (SB 26) that includes a teacher pay raise, but it is not a comparable school finance bill and does not include an increase in the basic allotment.
House Floor Debate on School Vouchers
Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed his support for school vouchers in Texas, naming it his No. 1 priority for the 89th Legislature. After suffering a dramatic defeat after four special sessions in 2023, Abbott successfully replaced many anti-voucher Republicans with pro-voucher candidates during the 2024 election cycle to avoid being defeated again.
SB 2 cruised through the Senate then lingered in the House for a few weeks before being taken up by the House Public Education Committee. Abbott has reportedly leaned on Republican members who had second thoughts about a school voucher program before the April 16 vote, hoping to ensure his victory.
Buckley offered an amendment to the bill that would shore up some concerns voiced prior to the floor hearing. Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) offered an amendment that would offer the full price of tuition for voucher recipients instead of just $10,500, depending on the applicant's income level, but the amendment failed.
Talarico offered an amendment that would put the question of school vouchers to voters in a statewide election. Before April 16, there was a groundswell of support from members of both parties for such a measure, but Abbott spoke to the Republican caucus before the floor debate, reportedly threatening retribution against members who voted for a referendum. Talarico gave a passionate speech imploring his colleagues to vote for the amendment, but it failed, 86-62.
A number of other amendments by Democrats aimed to hamstring SB 2, but all failed on party lines. Later in the evening, Rep. Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth) raised a point of order against the bill itself, attempting to stop it on procedural grounds, but that also failed after many hours of deliberation by the House parliamentarian. More amendments followed to delay the bill, sending the debate into the early hours of April 17.
Around 2 a.m. April 17, the House passed SB 2, 85-63. Only two Republicans voted against the bill, Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and Rep. Gary VanDeaver (R-New Boston).
The bill will face a final vote in the House Thursday before heading to the Senate, which could either adopt the bill as it came out of the House or request a conference committee to negotiate the differences between the two versions.