Lawmakers are weighing what to do with an expected $11 billion in the Texas Rainy Day fund, some want to spend a big chunk of it on education.
Texas' Rainy Day fund is expected to fill up with roughly $11 billion by the end of the legislative session, and lawmakers already have a few suggestions on how to spend the money.
Republican Rep. Allan Ritter filed a bill Thursday that would spend $2 billion to set up the Water Development Board fund. The fund's goal is to finance certain water-related projects.
Democrats want to spend a chunk of the money on education. Roughly $5 billion dollars in education funding was cut during the previous session.
"We had a slash-and-burn approach to a lot of things, specifically education," said Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth. "As the economy grows, we might be able to make it a one-time subsidy from rainy day funding."
That "one-time" use of the fund is a key sticking point for Republicans, who have vowed to only use the Rainy Day Fund for "one-time" expenditures.
