School finance

Starting teacher pay in Buffalo is thousands below the state average, and it's hard to attract people from outside the small town. The district's superintendent hopes school finance reform will help.

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One of the big bills of the session — a sales- for property-tax swap — was put on ice this week. Lots of other bills are ready for their post-session burials, too, but keep your eyes open. In the Texas Legislature, dead legislation has a way of coming back to life.

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The chambers will need to negotiate how to give teachers pay raises, whether to adjust how students take standardized tests and how to provide long-term property tax relief for Texans.

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The pieces are in place. There's a month to go. And the three leaders who bet big on school finance, education and property taxes are in a familiar place, imploring reluctant legislators to take the kinds of high-stakes votes that make and break political careers.

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen did not close the door on passing a sales tax swap with a simple majority instead of the current approach requiring two-thirds support of lawmakers and voter approval.

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Texas legislators have two versions of their sales-tax-for-property-tax swap in motion, and if they run out of time, lawmakers have more tricks in their pocket. If they don't get the property tax cuts they want, it won't be because of end-of-session deadlines.

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The Senate Education Committee approved the school finance bill in a hurried meeting Wednesday. The full Senate is now expected to vote on the legislation Friday. Meanwhile, a House panel advanced a proposal to let voters decide whether a sales tax increase should fund property tax relief.

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An amendment added to a Senate property tax bill ties it to school finance — a signal the Texas House doesn't want to leave the harder-to-pass education bill behind.

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The bill differs in significant ways from the version the House approved this month.

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The end of the legislative session — deal-making time — is looming, and the priorities set out by the state's top leaders three months ago remain undone. In fact, those centerpiece school finance and property tax measures aren't even teed up for the final negotiations.

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Three quarters of the way into the legislative session, lawmakers are still juggling several proposals related to school district taxes, including some that would not provide any tax relief.

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It's hard to gather support for the state's most persistent problems when you're also pressing forward with issues that divide and anger Republicans and Democrats. It's also business as usual in the Texas Legislature.

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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have already signaled opposition to the proposal from Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen.

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Top Republican leaders have proposed raising the sales tax and using the money to lower local property tax rates. Wealthier Texans and businesses would likely benefit, while poorer Texans would likely pay more.

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Lawmakers have proposed swapping higher sales taxes for lower property taxes — but leaving the final decision to voters. They don't have to do it that way, but it could move the blame from them — to the rest of us.

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The Texas Legislature is in its biennial spasm of drama, with big bills stuck and some state leaders saying it will take a special session to get property taxes, school finance and all of that done. But they have six weeks to go, and they often do their big work on deadline.

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The state's top three leaders bet everything on public education and property taxes this year, but they can't get where they're going — especially if they want to cut property taxes — without bringing some Democrats to their side.

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The state's "Big Three" unveiled the proposal in a joint statement. The idea would need approval from two-thirds of the House and Senate and a majority of Texas voters.

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School finance reform could bring the privately operated public schools a windfall. But traditional public school advocates are still fighting the charters' expansion.

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How would lawmakers' proposals to provide property tax relief affect tax bills? It depends on where you live and what kind of home you own.

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