Texas budget writers prioritize border security, education funding in initial drafts

Separately, the DPS is slated to receive $402 million to hire about 600 new state troopers. DPS troopers are stationed near the border, at the Texas Capitol, around highways and more.

More details

Each chamber set aside over $32 billion to cover property tax cuts passed in 2019 and 2023, including funding existing tax exemptions for homeowners and providing revenue to school districts that reduced their tax rates as a result of state law.

The House budget proposes spending $3 billion to further reduce school tax rates. In a statement, Burrows said the lower chamber would spend an additional $3.5 billion on “new property tax relief,” but did not specify how that money would be spent.

In the Senate, Patrick and Huffman proposed using the $3.5 billion to cut taxes for businesses and increase the homestead exemption, which is the portion of a home’s value that cannot be taxed. Following the 2023 legislative session, most homeowners receive a $100,000 exemption on their primary home, while seniors and people with disabilities have a $110,000 exemption.

SB 1 would raise Texans’ exemptions by $40,000 and offer $500 million in tax relief for business owners, according to a statement.

Also of note

Both budget drafts would raise public education funding by about $4.9 billion, delivering on promises made by Abbott and other state leaders to “fully fund” public schools. Attempts to do so crumbled after four special sessions in 2023, when school funding was tied to an unsuccessful push to create education savings accounts, a voucher-like program.

“Some people... make it sound like you can't have both school choice and robust public schools,” Abbott told reporters Nov. 6. “That's completely false. The reality is we can have the best public schools in America and also have school choice at the very same time.”

This year, state senators want to raise all public school teachers’ salaries by $4,000, according to Patrick’s office. Teachers in rural school districts would receive a $10,000 raise under the plan, which Patrick said would “close the salary gap between our rural and larger school districts.”

However, some education advocates say the proposed raise is not enough. The average Texas teacher made $60,716 during the 2022-23 school year, according to the National Education Association. The national average teacher salary was $69,597 during the same period, the NEA reported.

“That doesn’t come close to covering their pay deficit, which now trails the national average by... $9,000,” Ovidia Molina, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said in a Jan. 22 statement. “Legislative budget writers need to start over, and they should start by scratching out the money set aside for vouchers and allocating it to public schools.”

The two drafts set aside $1 billion for an education savings account package, which would give families public money to send their children to private schools. The Senate Education Committee advanced its version of the plan, SB 2, on Jan. 28, while the House has not filed ESA legislation.

SB 2, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would give families $10,000 annually per student to pay for tuition and other educational expenses, such as textbooks or transportation, at an accredited private school. Children with disabilities would receive $11,500 each year for private school, and families who homeschool their children would receive at least $2,000 annually, according to previous reporting.

Both budgets also include $400 million for school safety initiatives, although the House plan does not indicate if the other $4.9 billion would be used for teacher raises or other education policies.

Zooming out

The two chambers agreed to use $2.5 billion to expand Texas’ water supplies and improve related infrastructure, a priority of Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, who leads the Senate’s Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee.

Perry plans to ask his colleagues to create a dedicated funding stream to help local utilities purchase more water and upgrade their infrastructure. He told Community Impact he hopes lawmakers will budget $5 billion this legislative session—twice what is currently allocated—and send $1 billion to the state water fund each year moving forward.

Lawmakers are also aligned on sending $5 billion to the Texas Energy Fund, a program that provides low-interest loans for the construction and maintenance of new power facilities. Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the fund in November 2023.

One more thing

The budget drafts propose spending about $150 billion in general revenue funds, which is under the $158 billion biennial spending limit adopted by the Legislative Budget Board.

To surpass the spending cap, both chambers must vote that emergency appropriations are needed, according to the LBB.