Texas lawmakers have passed an $8.5 billion public school funding bill, but local education leaders say it’s still not enough to see changes in the classroom.
The finalized version of House Bill 2 passed May 29 after the Senate made big edits to the lower chamber’s first draft. Gov. Greg Abbott plans to sign it into law.
Ultimately, the school finance package will fund employee salaries, operational expenses, educator preparation, special education, campus safety and early childhood learning, which means funding a full day of preschool in some cases.
The passage of the bill happened more than a month after Abbott signed school vouchers into law and is far cry from last legislative session when vouchers failed to move forward and billions for public schools were withheld as a consequence.
While lawmakers like House Education Committee Chair Rep. Brad Buckely, House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Abbott have called HB 2 a “record” increase in public school funding in the state’s history, San Antonio leaders say they have several concerns.
“Big picture, it’s not enough,” said Karla Duran, school board president at Northside Independent School District. “If you break it down, it sounds great, but we will still be dipping into our savings account.”
Northside ISD, like most school districts in the area, is facing a looming budget shortfall while seeing a dip in student enrollment. Through the public school funding bill, the district is expected to receive about $59 million, most of which will go toward teacher pay.
Even though the bill is “painted pretty,” the money the district receives from the state won’t make a big difference in its budgetary plans, Duran said, adding that NISD can only use less than a third of the money toward its $105 million deficit.
Under the bill, teachers with three to four years of experience working at districts with more than 5,000 students can expect a $2,500 raise, and teachers with five years of experience or more can expect a $5,000 raise.
The bill offers more money to teachers in smaller, rural districts with 5,000 students or less. NISD, however, is the largest school district in San Antonio, comprising more than 100,000 students and stretching from Leon Valley to Fair Oaks Ranch.
Duran also said the district’s non-teacher staff, including auxiliary positions like plumbers, custodians and bus drivers, will receive a 1% pay increase.
Moving forward with budgetary talks, Duran said, NISD will have to “dig its heels in” and take a hard look at jobs and how to incentivize teachers and staff even more.
Raises are only applicable to teachers and staff who were hired before or during the the 2024-25 school year.
School districts are also on the hook for implementation costs of teacher pay raises. Most districts will have to use 11.7% of its state funding to pay for the teacher retirement system (TRS).
San Antonio Independent School District will have to use nearly a fifth of its state funds for implementation costs because it offers social security benefits, as well as TRS.
SAISD, which serves roughly 44,000 students, expects to receive about $24.5 million from the state under HB 2, with more than half of it going to teacher pay.
Earlier this year, SAISD approved a 3% teacher pay raise, a 4% increase for some non-teacher staff, and incentives and bonuses for other support positions totaling $14.6 million.
School board president Christina Martinez said the district will have to spend about $2.3 million on teacher pay implementations costs and is concerned that HB 2 doesn’t “fully address current funding gaps in critical instructional areas,” such as students with disabilities.
Funding gaps remain
While the bill earmarks $250 million for special education, including paying for special education evaluations, public school advocates say there is still a $4 billion gap keeping students from getting their needs fully met.
Even with the “prescriptive nature” of the legislation, Martinez said the district will be able to solve a portion of SAISD’s $51 million budget deficit — a shortage for which the district has a three-year plan to address.
Alejandra Lopez, the president of the San Antonio Alliance, SAISD’s teacher and staff union, said they are “encouraged to see the investments” made by HB 2 in school districts, though the bill only “scratches the surface” with a one-time investment.
“There is definitely some relief,” Lopez said. “Yet it is not enough.”
HB 2 also adds an allotment for basic operating costs, helping districts keep up with inflationary pressures, and more than 100 new full-time employee positions at the Texas Education Agency.
Julia Grizzard, the executive director of the lobbying group Bexar County Education Coalition, said she’s glad teachers are getting paid more but thinks they deserve more, citing a study by the National Education Association that shows teachers in Texas are underpaid by $7,000 on average compared to the rest of the country.
Like Martinez, Grizzard called HB 2 a “prescriptive bill,” saying the investments made by the legislation won’t mean an immediate payoff in the classroom.
While the bill adds $55 to the basic student allotment — a fraction of the $394 increase the House originally proposed before sending the bill to the Senate, falling even shorter of the $1,300 advocates said districts needed to keep up with inflation — some districts will see an increase in the average student allotment of up to $300.
HB 2 also pays for full day of preschool in school districts that offer a program, though it’s not a new investment from the state, Grizzard warned. The early education allotment will remain the same, however the bill prioritizes spending on full-day pre-K.
“We do think it will have a positive impact,” Grizzard said. “But it’s not new money.”
Overall, school districts will still have to make difficult choices as the leaves funding gaps in areas like special education and school safety, Grizzard added.
Martinez, who’s sat on SAISD’s board since 2017, said school districts in general will still to deal with budgetary constraints left unaddressed by HB 2.
Unless Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath intervenes before the bill’s implementation, Comal Independent School District, part of the county’s education coalition, could lose more than $1 million under HB 2 instead of getting additional money from the state. Comal ISD has a $23.6 million budget deficit.
“Over this next biennium, we will still have to make tough decisions as we continue being good fiscal stewards while we work toward educating our community’s children,” Martinez said.
