School finance

The idea of tying a portion of funding to test scores appeals to some who want to improve student performance, but it enrages educators who say it will encourage teaching to the test.

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Texas leaders are promising property tax relief during this year's legislative session. It's unlikely that will lower your taxes, but it might slow future increases.

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The state's top leaders have been saying for weeks that they are in sync, and here's the surprise: Their initial proposals look like they are actually in sync.

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The proposed budget would increase state funds for education by about 17 percent but cut funding for health and human services by about 3 percent.

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It usually takes a court order to move Texas lawmakers to make big changes to major programs like school finance. But it's possible, if top leaders are united, to go big without a judicial push.

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In our new podcast, Point of Order, Evan Smith asks Dan Huberty, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, what it will take — and what it will cost — for state lawmakers to solve the state's most intractable problem.

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Lawmakers are taking on school finance and property tax reform — gnarly policy issues that are expensive to tackle even if the state decides enough money is already being spent on public education in Texas.

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The Texas Commission on Public School Finance — created last year to scrutinize the way the state funds K-12 education — finalized a report on Wednesday that includes more than 30 recommended improvements.

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Changing the way public schools are funded is hard even when everyone agrees on the problem. But Texas lawmakers will first have to figure out if they're aiming to lower property taxes, increase spending on public education — or just change how the money is distributed.

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His pitch is one of a long list of recommendations a state school finance panel will send to lawmakers later this month.

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The campaigns were long and hard, and now we know the winners. Let's look at what they're in for once they take office in 2019.

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State lawmakers are loath to raise taxes, but they need to find money somewhere if they want to give local school property taxpayers a break — a primary goal for many of the state's top leaders.

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Bush presides over the School Land Board, which has feuded with the State Board of Education over the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars from Texas' education endowment.

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The pitch includes capping increases in districts' property tax revenue and financial incentives to improve school performance.

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A fresh update of a single budget chart shows who's paying for public education in Texas: More than half of the money comes from local property taxpayers, just over a third comes from the state, and the federal government spends about a dime of every dollar schools cost.

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Texas will argue Wednesday at a federal appeals court that its decision to decrease special education funding several years ago did not violate federal law.

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Early discussions about the next state budget include an old and politically hazardous debate: Property values are rising, meaning the local share of education spending will rise while the state share drops.

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In a preliminary budget request, the Texas Education Agency revealed it expects the state to put less money into public education next year because of fast-increasing local property values.

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Texas voters aren't satisfied with the state's handling of public education and don't always agree on whether paying for it should be a state or local duty, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

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Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. The political debates of this election year will foreshadow some of the issues you'll see when the Texas Legislature meets next year, but some of the best clues — sports gambling is one example — come from the financial advisers to public sector investors.

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