The death of a key education fiscal matters bill on the House floor tonight ensures that any changes to school finance formulas will happen in a conference committee — and adds fuel to speculation of a special session this summer.
Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith was a reporter at the Tribune from 2009 to 2018, covering politics, public education and inequality.
In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for “Death of a District,” a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas.
A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.
Posted in
Health care
Cliffhanger
The media (and we do include ourselves, thanks) loves the sort of legislative or political story line that goes like a cliffhanger episode of a TV show. And the Lege always seems to provide at least one during the session. Will they finish in time? Will they fail and go into overtime?
Posted in
Economy
Budget Update: House Passes Key Fiscal Matters Bill
After days of debate, the House finally passed a key fiscal matters bill — Senate Bill 1811 — that raises necessary funds to balance the proposed budget.
Posted in
State Government
Liveblog: The Money Debate
With a deal in the works tonight on the state’s two-year budget — the biggest priority of the legislative session — the House and Senate are debating a crucial school finance measure and another critical bill that raises the money to pay for it.
Posted in
Public Education
Struggle Over Education Bill Breaks Old Alliances, Creates New Ones
State Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, is a widely liked Republican chairman with a supermajority to back him up. So why has his signature education bill this session, a mandate relief package for school districts, stumbled so badly?
Posted in
State Government
Budget Update: Campus Handguns Wing Budget Package
The hits just keep on coming. One of the fiscal matters bills critical to the budget got thrown back to the Senate for carrying a concealed weapon; it had been amended there to include legalization of concealed handguns on college campuses.
Posted in
Economy
Liveblog: Will House Take Up “Christmas Tree” Fiscal Bills?
State reps will try to hang a grab bag of amendments onto Senate Bills 1811 and 1581 — two critical pieces of legislation the House takes up today that could determine whether a budget is passed and a special session averted. Click here for our liveblog of the action.
Posted in
Public Education
Update: What $7.8 Billion Less Looks Like for Your District
A new version of Rep. Scott Hochberg’s school finance plan limits the total reductions in state funding for any individual district to 10 percent in 2012. Check our searchable database to see what the cuts will look for your district.
Posted in
Public Education
House Finally Kills Class Size Bill
In what may be the Democrats’ first concrete victory of the session, the House at last sent HB 400 to its grave when it failed to take up the controversial education legislation before its midnight deadline.
Posted inPublic Education
Interactive: What $830M in Federal Aid Means for Your School District
Since the repeal of the Doggett amendment on the use of federal education stimulus dollars, $830 million has been rolling in to Texas schools. Use our interactive maps to see which districts benefited and which lost out under the money’s new terms.
