Tax relief for property owners joins a packed to-do list for Texas lawmakers — which includes redistricting, COVID-19 vaccine mandates and a spending plan for $16 billion in federal stimulus dollars.
school finance
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Point of Order
Point of Order: What we learned from a year of disruption to public education in Texas
In the latest episode of our podcast about the Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to LaTonya Goffney, the superintendent of Aldine Independent School District, about public education’s disrupted year — pivoting online, learning loss, budget woes, and what it will take to put the whole thing back together by fall.
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Texas Legislature 2021
A Texas economic incentive offers massive tax breaks to companies, but its renewal isn’t a done deal
Chapter 313, a decades-old law designed to lure companies to Texas with property tax breaks, expires in 2022. Lawmakers looking to renew it face opposition from critics who say it’s unfair to many Texas schools.
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Public Education
Watch: State Rep. Harold Dutton, chair of public education committee, discusses how Legislature should respond to pandemic, winter storm
Dutton joined The Texas Tribune on Thursday for a conversation moderated by Aliyya Swaby, the Tribune’s public education reporter.
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Texas Legislature 2021
Texas schools are wary of losing funding gains lawmakers provided in 2019
A school finance bill in 2019 boosted funding for districts, but the pandemic has since added layers of financial uncertainty.
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Reopening Texas Schools
Texas students will still take STAAR tests in 2021, but schools won’t be rated on them
State lawmakers had previously asked the Texas Education Agency to seek a federal waiver to cancel the standardized tests.
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Reopening Texas Schools
With colorful masks and many new rules, Mrs. Hogan’s “honeybees” arrive for kindergarten
In-person classes resumed at Highland Village Elementary School on Tuesday. The youngest students wore masks printed with pepperoni pizza and Polly Pocket, adjusting to new safety protocols.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: August agenda for local government includes schools, police spending, property taxes and a pandemic
Local governments in Texas finish their spending plans and set their tax rates in August, an annual exercise that includes some hot topics in this pandemic year, like police spending, public schools and property taxes.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Federal cash infusion will start reaching Texas school districts in June
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told local school officials Thursday they can expect $1.29 billion in federal coronavirus relief to start flowing this summer, helping shore up district budgets for next school year.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
Most Texans want lower property taxes and more school spending, UT/TT Poll finds
It’s not a new contradiction, but it’s persistent: Texas voters think that property taxes are too high and that school spending is too low, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
