Texas Senate's Plan for Public Education Includes Outcomes-based Funding, Merit Pay

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate unveiled its plan to overhaul public school funding late Friday night with a bill that includes merit-based raises for teachers and outcomes-based funding for schools. The Senate bill, filed by Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, is an alternative school funding plan to the one filed earlier this week by Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble. The two lawmakers are both chairmen of the respective Senate and House education committees, and worked closely together on a year-long commission that developed recommendations to rewrite the book on how to fund public education."Our focus should be on improving the academic outcomes of our low-income students, who make up the largest and fastest growing demographic in our public school system," Taylor said in a statement. The text of Taylor's bill was not immediately available Friday night, and a description of the bill provided by his office didn't detail any associated costs related to the bill or policy specifics. Huberty's bill has a price tag of $9 billion.   Continue reading...