The fight over property tax rates is really about state leaders telling local officials how much their revenues can grow before voters get to step in.
Graphics and data reporting
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How do Texas governments calculate your property taxes? Here’s a primer.
Several government entities — from appraisal districts to city councils — play independent roles that collectively determine how much money Texas landowners owe local governments each year.
Texas’ savings account is poised to hit $15 billion. How much will lawmakers spend?
As lawmakers debate costly investments in property tax reduction and public schools, they’re eyeing the state savings account for a sizable withdrawal.
In increasingly diverse Texas, the Legislature remains mostly white and male
Here’s a look at the demographics of the 86th Legislature by lawmakers’ race, gender, age, education and religion.
Texas saw the nation’s sixth-highest voter turnout increase, but still lagged behind most other states
Voter turnout in the 2018 Texas midterm elections increased by 18 percentage points compared with the previous midterms, according to data from the United States Elections Project.
The number of migrant children in Texas shelters rose again in November, reaching a new high under Trump
The number of unaccompanied minor children held in Texas shelters reached a new high in November, months after the administration of President Donald Trump ended its policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border.
Texas State students were likely a key factor in flipping this conservative county to Democrats
Beto O’Rourke surged to a 15-point edge over Ted Cruz in Hays County during last week’s election, even though the Central Texas county hadn’t voted for a Democrat at the top of the ticket since 1992.
Are Texas suburbs slipping away from Republicans?
In Williamson, Hays, Collin and Fort Bend counties, Republicans saw their dominance falter on Tuesday.
Look up Texas midterm turnout in your county against historic numbers
Tuesday’s elections fired up more Texas voters than any midterm in a generation. Turnout even eclipsed the 2000 presidential race in which Texans helped put George W. Bush — one of their own — in the White House.
Where Ted Cruz’s close victory over Beto O’Rourke stands among Texas’ historical election results
It was the closest a Democrat came to toppling a Republican incumbent U.S. senator since 1978. And while O’Rourke beat Cruz in some traditional GOP strongholds, it wasn’t enough to overcome rural Texas counties and some suburbs that remain fiercely loyal to Cruz.

