With the 83rd legislative session underway as of Jan. 8, representatives plan to discuss and take action on matters concerning public education, continued economic development and water rights in areas throughout Texas.

Although a boost in economic vitality—primarily from a 41 percent increase in oil and gas industry revenue taxes—has helped bring the state up to $8 billion in unexpected revenue, legislators and officials have suggested that a majority of the money be committed to restore an overall budget cut of 8 percent made last session.

Committees that saw the biggest cuts were public health and education, which account for roughly 82 percent of the overall state budget this year, said state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R–Houston.

"This is going to be a big issue session," he said. "This is a time for major reform—not a time for timidity. The first big time reform we will have is in public education. There are too many students being left behind. If you project out to 2030, there are huge implications if we keep public education as business as usual."

Education

Before the 83rd legislative session began, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R–Houston, was appointed as chairman of the senate's education committee by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

With about half of the state's $90 billion budget going toward public education, Patrick said that education is at the heart of every decision the state makes.

"We want to find solutions to solve the issue of how do we get more students to graduate, how do we get more students into the workforce and how do we get more students to be successful in college," he said. "We need to address education as the heart of everything we do in Texas. If we solve that issue, everything else will fall into place."

Standardized testing in Texas will also be discussed among legislators. The requirement to count STAAR test results as 15 percent of a student's final grade has already been deferred another year at the urging of Gov. Rick Perry, and school districts have the option to enact the rule on an individual basis. An estimated 1,100 of the state's roughly 1,200 school districts have taken advantage of the deferral, including Cy–Fair ISD. Of these school districts, 876—or 73 percent—failed to meet adequate yearly progress requirements in 2012.

"Our goal continues to be that all students in CFISD will be successful," said Linda Macias, CFISD associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction and accountability. "Based on the standards set for the 2013-14 school year, many high performing schools and districts across the state of Texas will be in danger of missing AYP if [No Child Left Behind] is not reauthorized."

For the 2013–14 school year, accountability standards will require public schools to have a passing rate of 100 percent on standardized testing in both reading and math, according to the Texas Education Agency.

"One of the best school districts in the state is Cy–Fair, which is one of the least spending and gets more bang for the buck," Patrick said. "So, throwing money at the problem doesn't always get it done. There are districts who get more money who perform way below Cy–Fair."

The district receives about $4,700 per student compared to other districts that receive between $6,000–$8,000 per student, according to the TEA. Before the cuts made to public education in the last legislative session, CFISD cut more than $73 million since 2006, said Stacye Anderson, chairwoman with the community leadership committee.

"CFISD does a really good job of assessing the value of programs and services and prioritizing them—eliminating those whose benefits do not support the cost," she said. "Unfortunately, everything that can be cut that does not directly impact a student's day-to-day school experience has been cut."

Water shortage

With a drought hanging over Texas, legislators are considering setting aside $1 billion from the $8.1 billion Economic Stabilization fund, or the Rainy Day fund, to help local entities create and maintain access to drinkable water sources. While cities like El Paso and San Antonio have implemented water conservancy measures in homes and businesses, Houston needs to do a better job, said state Rep. Bill Callegari, R–Houston.

"[Water conservation] is an educational process that really needs to be fostered by the public works departments," he said.

With the population expected to double in the next 30 years, Texas will need to nearly double its potable water supply, Dewhurst said at the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce in late November.

Senate Bill 3, which was proposed by Dewhurst and signed into law in June 2007, set aside reservoir footprints for 19 reservoirs throughout Texas. State officials hope to help build these reservoirs through project financing because of the demand from cities and commercial entities, Dewhurst said. In the past 34 sessions, 22 sites have been designated as reservoirs in Texas, according to Callegari.

"It takes 20 years—at least—and a lot of money when you plan to build a reservoir, so we want to start soon," he said. "Maybe less than 10 of those will end up being viable as future reservoir sites. We need to find better ways to finance those projects."

The North Harris County Regional Water Authority has continued financing efforts for construction on nearby projects to increase the available water supply and reduce groundwater dependency. Several groundwater wells have reached the end of their lives and aquifers are being depleted, said Alan Rendl, NHCRWA president.

The Texas State Water Plan drafted by the Texas Water Development Board states that $53 billion should be spent over 50 years to locate and establish new water sources.