texas

Senate Budget Bill Keeps Status Quo on Texas School Funding

A $106.3 billion spending bill that gives Texas public schools roughly the same amount of money as classrooms receive now is headed to the Senate.

The proposed Texas budget adopted Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee also continues spending $800 million on border security and puts more dollars into the state's beleaguered child welfare system.

Public schools want the Republican-controlled Legislature to spend more on classrooms after the Texas Supreme Court last summer ruled that the state's school finance system was constitutional but flawed.

But even Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is having difficulty wringing education dollars from lawmakers for his pre-kindergarten initiative.

A prolonged oil slump has Texas lawmakers looking to lower costs through 2019. The House wants to tap the state's rainy day fund to spare spending cuts.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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