For the latest installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether public education is sufficiently funded in Texas — and how deep the coming cuts are likely to be.
Economy
Get the latest on jobs, business, growth, and policy shaping the state’s economy with in-depth reporting from The Texas Tribune.
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Economy
“Rube Goldberg” School Finance System Faces New Test
Cutting $10 billion public education funding could push more than two-dozen school districts from the group that receives state financing into the group that writes checks to the state to even things out between richer and poorer districts.
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Economy
What’s at Stake in the Texas-Amazon Fight Over State Sales Taxes?
The fight over Amazon’s taxes isn’t just about the giant online retailer. State officials say Texas is losing $600 million annually on taxable items purchased online. And as they work to close a budget gap of up to $27 billion, they’re chasing every penny.
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Economy
Budget Cuts Trickle Down to Local Governments
One lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment blocking lawmakers from passing so-called unfunded mandates on to local governments. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, cities and counties worry the costs will come anyway.
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Economy
The Governor’s Symbolic Cuts and His Real Ones
The proposed budget cuts Gov. Rick Perry laid out in his State of the State speech are more symbolic than lucrative and trivialize the cuts that are being made elsewhere in state services and programs.
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Economy
Perry: Protect Rainy Day Fund
Gov. Rick Perry told lawmakers Tuesday he is against tapping the state’s $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund to close the budget shortfall: “That approach would not only postpone tough, necessary decisions.”
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Economy
Perry to Push Colleges to Offer $10,000 Degree
Gov. Rick Perry will challenge the state’s colleges and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor’s degree, including books, in his State of the State speech later this morning, according to sources familiar with some of the proposals.
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Economy
Senators Grill Education Agency Over Cuts
At the Texas Education Agency’s first appearance before the Senate since the release of a budget that reduces school funding by $9.3 billion, senators called for a “full picture” of the state’s spending on public education.
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Criminal Justice
Jail Officials: Mental Health Cuts Hurt Everyone
Slashing funds for community-based mental health care will hurt taxpayers and degrade the quality of life for thousands of mentally ill Texans and their families, Harris County Jail officials told Texas budget writers today in written testimony for the Senate Finance Committee.
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Economy
Texas Won’t Secede — But It Won’t Shut Up Either
Texas leaders aren’t talking about secession, after an outbreak of conversation a couple of years ago. But the germ of the idea remains in the anti-federalist talking points that fueled Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign last year and provided the outline for his book, Fed Up!