In declining to assign conference committee conferees to House Bill 21, the Senate effectively ended the discussions for comprehensive school finance reform this Legislative Session. TASBO is thankful for the courageous leadership of many legislators including Speaker of the House Joe Straus, House Public Education Chair Dan Huberty, House Appropriations Chair John Zerwas, House Public Education Vice Chair Diego Bernal and Rep. Ken King in clearly supporting the start of school finance reform in the 85th Legislative Session.
Rep. Huberty’s House Bill 21 began the essential process to update school finance funding formulas, which was supported by 134 House members that voted HB 21 out of the House on third reading and was later supported by certain legislators in the Senator chamber. Rep. Zerwas consistently stated his support of improving public school funding from the perspective of the Appropriations committee. Rep. King supported measures to address the look back to school year 2006-2007 funding mechanism and future difficult local budget decisions affecting hundreds of ISDs with the end of additional state aid for tax reduction on September 1, 2017. Rep. Diego Bernal provided consistent steady leadership as Vice Chair and clearly showed his enthusiasm and support of public education.
Public education is one of the most magnanimous gifts to school aged children in Texas school districts and charter schools, as framed in the Texas Constitution. TASBO will continue to articulate the need for meaningful and significant school finance reform in alignment with its Legislative Priority on this issue.