Born in a small town in Mexico, with big dreams of one day being a state budget analyst. Seriously? Of course not. Who in their right mind aspires to that?
Federal budget decisions affect millions of Americans. Here in Texas, federal taxes make up 33% of the
#txbudget
, and 15% of the state economy (GDP) through critical income, education, and health supports.
Welp. There goes that long-standing excuse of, "See, it's OK to pay teachers and other school staff less in Texas, because it's SO much cheaper to live here."
No, it's not, and in many cities across the state, it hasn't been, for years now.
#txlege
#txed
That's why we pay for public schools with taxes.
Voucher proponents who say they merely "get their $ back" don't understand: vouchers will be paid for with state General Revenue.
A family that gets vouchers for 4 kids: $32,000 a year. WAY more than their state taxes/fees paid.
LOST IN THE ESA/VOUCHER DEBATEโ The TX constitution speaks to public education as a benefit to society, but vouchers appear to focus on education as a benefit to the individual.
"Large" voucher as in, $8,000 per student. Almost TWICE the amount of state revenue on average per public school pupil, according to TEA.
Honestly, folks, that voucher proposal is ๐๐ฉ
#txlege
#txed
HB100-The Senate, of course, has added a large voucher onto the teeny, tiny teacher increase they are offering.
#txlege
only wants to help
#txed
if we give them vouchers. Rotten deal.
Call your senators; say no to vouchers & yes to using some of the surplus $ to help public ed.
TX has had public school choice for almost 3 decades. The most widely used, state-authorized charters, costs
#txbudget
$4.3 B in 2023-24.
Vouchers aren't "public school choice," in the same way that asking TX taxpayers to subsidize country clubs isn't "public park choice."
Really?
Potential fiscal note: Let's say all 6.2 million school-age children in TX received a $10,400
#txbudget
funded ESA (voucher). That's a 2-year cost of $128,960,000,000, or at least $40 BILLION MORE than state spending on public
#txed
through the Texas Education Agency.
'If I'm sending my child to a school that does not have armed guards at that school, should I not be given the ability to choose a different option through an education savings account?' --
@JaredLPatterson
, invoking sexual assault victims who he said are trapped in same school.
Glad you asked!
2021-22: Operating spending by TX public schools = $65 B. With 5.4 m students, that's less than $12,000 per student, incl. $2,600 in federal $
That per-student figure for TX? Adjusted for regional cost-of-living differences, it's $4,000 below the US average.
Rep. Talarico back w/data on other states that have seen 70% or more of vouchers go to kids already in private school.
Prioritizing kids doesn't guarantee usage: Private schools may not have special ed svcs.; no transportation; tuition/fees are higher than voucher amount.
#txed
Small favor to ask: instead of referring to Article X of the
#txbudget
as 'lege pay', please call it
FUNDING FOR THE ENTIRE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF
STATE GOVERNMENT
Thanks in advance.
Yes, you read that right,
#txed
advocates:
Texas state revenue is keeping up with inflation.
So it wasn't a lack of state money that's kept the Basic Allotment frozen at the 2019 level ($6,160); it was a POLICY CHOICE. A bad one, for 5+ million students.
@Glenn_Hegar
kicks off his one-on-one at trib fest by talking about next monthโs estimate - saying while cash flow is increasing, TX is really just keeping up with inflation.
Notes insurance collections are up.
#txlege
1) Data: in states with universal eligibility for vouchers, about 70% of voucher-users were never in a public school.
Combine that with Texas's heavy reliance on local property taxes to fund public
#txed
, and a 1% "take-up" rate, and here's what could happen. ๐งต
#txlege
I see young voucher imps taunting that public school advocates fear kids will leave public schools.
Thatโs not the concern. Or what the data say.
The issue is
#schoolvouchers
fund kids never in public schools in the first place.
And states canโt afford to pay for two sectors.
The Department of Family and Protective Services has increasingly relied on housing foster kids in hotels when it canโt find them a home.
Staff turnover at the agency is now at a record high, with nearly 1 in 3 employees leaving in fiscal year 2022.
Turns out, historic
#txed
investments WERE made!
But peaked in 2003. [sad trombone]
$5 billion more a year would get schools back to 2003 per-student current spending.
Data from and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
TEA PEIMS data: similar trend.
TEA confirms, at LBB/Governor's Budget Office hearing, that its 2-year request has $3.8 billion less in General Revenue for schools, as local property values & taxes are assumed to go up 6.77% a year. State share would drop to "mid-30s". CPPP estimate below.
#txlege
Unofficial tally, ICYW: of over 3,200 HB 1 comments received through House portal,
-more than 2/3 were against vouchers,
-almost 1/3 were in favor, including a couple dozen who wanted vouchers to pay for child care,
-80 or so were some kind of neutral comment.
#txlege
#txed
Final count on how many Texans used the House portal for HB 1: 1,003 pages! If the first 339 pages were any indication, this means close to 2,900 people weighed in.
#txlege
#txed
Rep. Talarico asks if HB 1 voucher proposal makes it possible for a wealthy CEO to get $10,000 for his 2 kids to attend an elite private high school for four years - $80,000 total.
[Answer: Yes]
Rep. Talarico: That's a "massive transfer of wealth to the well-off."
#txlege
What this man doesn't understand is that when a child leaves public schools, it relieves the state general fund of much less than the ESA amount. So the move actually costs state taxpayers money AND does not guarantee a choice that parents prefer. Private school gets to choose.
@DeLunaEva
What you don't understand is that when a child leaves public schools, it relieves the general fund of much more than the ESA amount. So the move actually saves all taxpayers money AND provides a choice that parents prefer
Grip yourselves,
#txlege
ladies and gents - I now present to you the very first
@EveryTxn
state budget chart, using our new color scheme. (Don't worry - the excitement and awe will die down after a day or so. ๐ค )
I get a big laugh every time I post a chart straight from TEA, Comptroller, or LBB, and get some response along these lines. Who is being called a liar, exactly?
As for my own charts (huge shout-out to awesome public school math teachers I had!): happy to point you to raw data.
Such an honor to receive this coveted award earlier today at the
@CPPP_TX
near-end-of-session get-together. "I'd like to thank the Academy, and my fellow nominees, and - hey wait, why's that music playing? I'm not done with my acceptance speech yet. There's charts!"
#txlege
Every time a school district gets asked what its reserve fund or fund balance is, I'm reminded that the state's Economic Stabilization Fund contains more than $10 billion.
#txlege
#txed
Uh,
#txed
needs "giant blockbuster adjustments" in Basic Allotment b/c "giant blockbuster" inflation happened since the last increase in 2019 - highest in 40 yrs.
Ignoring inflation, and leaving ISDs to struggle with 3+ years of it, is partly why state had a record "surplus."
More accurate recap of TX public
#txed
funding:
1) Let local property taxes & federal aid make up for years when
#txlege
lets Basic Allotment lose ground to inflation
2) "Buy down" property taxes without actually increasing state taxes
3) Wait for next recession to undo 2)
When it comes to public education people love to say things like, โYou canโt just throw money at the problem.โ
Let me assure you: itโs never happened.
Weโve never had that โwe overdid itโ moment.
#txlege
Possibly the single most important thing for
#txlege
members to understand about Medicaid: almost all enrollees are children, pregnant, older Texans, or people with disabilities, because working-age adults have to be extremely poor AND a parent to qualify.
So, they released the fiscal note for the new voucher vampire
@SenCreighton
put into HB 100... they want to take more than $1.5 billion from public schools in 2025 & 2026.
#txlege
Almost $11 billion in anticipated general revenue left unallocated through 2025, plus more than $27 billion in "rainy day" fund. Yet
#txed
will continue to lack the resources it needs.
Looking forward to hearing fiscal conservatives in
#txlege
explain how this was a better use of billions of state tax dollars than, say, teacher pensions, or fixing the grid. Plus, these latter uses wouldn't have destroyed the morale of the TX State Guard for years to come. ๐
Misdemeanor trespassing charges made up about 40% of arrests from Gov. Greg Abbottโs highly touted border security operation between mid-July to Jan. 27.
LBB: $93.6 B for Public Ed in 2024-2025, including $18 B for property tax cuts + $5 B for TRS retirees (YAY, finally!).
Set those 2 aside and $71 B remains. And is less than the $72 B for Pub Ed in 2022-2023.
So where's the $10.8 B increase for preK-12 schools? ๐ค
#txed
This is a lie. Texas approved the largest education funding increase in the stateโs history this year, $10.8 billion. And Democrats have already said theyโre willing to leave billions more $$$ on the table to prevent passing ESAs. Itโs not abt the money for them.
#txlege
"Full funding" meaning, Gov wants to see these special ed. and teacher workforce items from his 2024-25
#txbudget
proposal? Surely the ninth largest economy in the world can do better for teachers & other public school employees, and 5.4 million students, than what's in SB 2.
Could it be that voucher proposals have always died in
#txlege
sessions simply because the vast majority of middle-class & well-off Texans aren't demanding or interested in government assistance? Especially if it's means-tested? ๐ค
Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas House are at an impasse over education savings accounts. Despite spending months trying to gather support, Abbott so far has failed to break a coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans in the House who oppose the idea.
George Washington University estimates that Texas state taxpayers have more to lose from Census undercount than any other state, because of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (used for health / foster / child care match).
#txlege
Rep. Talarico up next, with more Qs about potential maximum cost of vouchers, if every child already in a private- or home-school setting gets a voucher. "This could cost $7 billion in the next biennium?" he asks TEA.
TEA: "Subject to appropriations, yes."
#txlege
#txed
From information that the School Finance Commission got from TEA, weeks ago. Why is anyone still trying to argue that state aid has kept up with student growth? Or that total spending has recovered to pre-2011 levels?
#txlege
#txed
Hey
#txlege
-ers, have you heard scary
#txbudget
rumors making the rounds about state lawmakers calling for 5% to 20% cuts to 2020-2021 state services? Hereโs what you need to know.
Funny how a
#txlege
session that was purportedly about helping "struggling Texans being forced out of their homes by high taxes" has turned into a tax INCREASE for the 60% of Texas households with the lowest income. Not "haha" funny, though.
LBB equity analysis of
@GregAbbott_TX
,
@DanPatrick
,
@RepDennisBonnen
tax swap plan seems to show that Texans who earn less than $99k a year will pay more, while those who earn over 6-figure salaries will see reductions
#txlege
Hard to pay teachers what they're worth when per-student funding - which
#txlege
sets - is stuck at pre-pandemic, Fall 2019 levels. Some school districts are using federal COVID aid to make up for inflation (of at least 19%), but what happens when that runs out?
#NoSurplus
"My 5th grader didn't get a teacher this year because there are just no teachers," she said. His class was instead divided & combined with 2 others. "So he's in a giant class, teachers are struggling, kids are struggling..our schools are in crisisโ
#txlege
As voucher bills continue to be filed in
#txlege
, watch for how much goes to admin, by the state or new "middlemen."
Regular session's SB 8 allowed up to 8%, or for a $500 million voucher scheme, up to $40 million.
How low can that share be and still prevent fraud & abuse?
Some time this week, I reached the "1,500 followers" milestone on Twitter. For someone whose posts are 99% state-budget / 1% cat- related, that is AWESOME. Thank you all! Much appreciated.
Rep. Gina Hinojosa asking many of the questions that need to be asked about the quickly escalating cost of voucher proposal in HB 1. And again, that's if only HALF of kids already in private or home-school apply and get on the waitlist.
#txlege
#txed
HB 1 fiscal note online at
Top of p 12: in 2nd year, amount of vouchers would quadruple, to $1.9 B, or $4 B (w/admin) in 2026-27
#txbudget
.
If voucher users end up being primarily kids already in private school, FSP savings would be lower than estimated.
Think about it,
#txlege
conservatives:
$8,000 in state General Revenue per voucher - for PRIVATE schools - just when you've almost eliminated cash assistance for kids from
#txbudget
.
And way higher than GR per public
#txed
student - less than $3,500 in 2024-25, even with SB 2.
Hey
#txed
and
#txlege
friends.
$500M is the ONE YEAR cost for vouchers for school year 2024-25 if SB1 takes effect.
So, the cost could be $1 billion or more for the next biennium.
SB 1 is an entitlement program without transparency or accountability. Not conservative.
#TBT
: That time I was called a socialist & blocked on Facebook for pointing out that the TX Constitution now prohibits a state tax on real estate transfers, making it an unlikely way to replace school property taxes anytime soon.
Oh wait - that was an hour ago.
#txlege
#txed
There, I fixed it for you,
#txlege
(Except that... State/Local Govt Implicit Price Deflator is a better measure of the inflation faced by school districts than the TX CPI that TEA uses; also ignores the changing needs of students.)
Conveniently leaving out the part of TX history when
#txlege
cut franchise tax (Property Tax Relief Fund $) by $2.6 B/biennium + diverted $5 B in General Revenue from sales tax to State Highway Fund, meaning $7.6 B less in state aid for schools that property taxes must cover.
In a acknowledgement of Texas history, Lt Gov Dan Patrick says they are trying to craft property tax reforms that stick, a nod to past reforms that, as he says, โdisappear into thin airโ because of government growth.
Reminder to
#txed
aficionados everywhere: When you hear a state official say "We are putting $5.8 billion more into public schools in the next budget," here's what they're probably not mentioning. Oh, and Basic Allotment stays at $5,140 from 2016 to 2019.
#txlege
Great point by Rep. Wu during discussion of SB 19: why do
#txlege
members identifying themselves as fiscal conservatives support so many measures highly likely to trigger lawsuits the AG has to defend in court? How many million$ in state taxes are spent on those lawsuits?
hey,
@LindyWPatton
,
Great resource from IDRA at showing just how few private schools (little blue triangles) are in rural areas.
Anyone good at "Where's Waldo?" will spot 'em right off the bat. Caution: some turn out to be mountains. ๐ค
#txlege
#txed
Senate Finance Chair Jane Nelson closes hearing on SB 1 by laying out her 4 goals for 2022-2023
#txbudget
:
1) maintain state's commitment to education
2) provide resources to defeat the coronavirus and keepTexans healthy
3) reignite the economy
4) strengthen public safety
What Rep. Martinez-Fischer was referring to earlier: if TEA funding in CSHB 1 goes up $11.3 billion, but $12 billion of that is for NEW tax relief (in addition to $5 B in tax cuts already required by law), school districts will be getting $700 million less.
#txlege
#txbudget
You know what else would be reasonable and common-sense? Ideas about where Texas will get the $291 million in additional state taxes needed for Medicaid, CHIP, foster & child care, and adoption assistance for each 1% population undercount.
โA question on citizenship is a reasonable, commonsense addition to the census.โ
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz revealed that he was among those who requested that the 2020 questionnaire ask about citizenship status.
#txlege
@joshuak08
@scottbraddock
If you prefer facts to assumptions:
โก๏ธ Governor vetoed funding for the Legislative branch
โก๏ธ House and Senate leadership did not make stand-alone bills restoring that funding - or the general supplemental
#txbudget
bills - the top priority (urgency and/or $ of money involved)
Lots of
#txlege
testimony today about TX's abysmal per-pupil spending. It looks even worse when you account for inflation. Our public schools need a *meaningful* increase in the basic allotment. SB 2 ain't it
When a high school mariachi band from San Antonio meets a high school ballet folklorico from Victoria at the State Capitol. This is public education in Texas!
#txed
#txlege
Though, reading it closely, that constitutional
#txbudget
cap on assistance grants for children uses the word "needy." And many of the families whose kids are already in a private school would say "Uh, we're not needy." In which case: WHY GIVE THEM A $10,400 VOUCHER?
In 30 years of listening to
#txlege
sessions, I've learned to pay extra attention whenever a bill author introduces his proposal with, "This is just a simple technical matter..." and in response to the many Qs that follow, insists that it doesn't change anything important.
Census: "In states that expanded Medicaid eligibility, 10.3% of counties (187 of 1,814) had an ...uninsured rate above 20% among working-age adults living at or below 138% of poverty, [vs] 82.5% of counties (1,096 of 1,328) in states that didnโt expand Medicaid eligibility."
So many candidates for TX public office take credit for "job creation" - much of it in low-pay, no-health-benefits service sector, driven by pop. growth (high birth rate) - while ignoring the fact that statewide, schools are a major employer & the heart of communities.
#txed
196%, to be exact. Know what else spiked since 1997? The TX population.
And don't forget the rising cost of providing roads, schools, water/wastewater infrastructure, etc. Adjust property tax growth for population & inflation, and the increase is 1% per year.
#txlege
Back by popular demand! School finance chart based on one originally prepared by State Rep. Gene Wu.
2023 version: Best guess at what inflation-adjusted
#txed
funding would look like if Basic Allotment stays at $6,160 & state aid is based on attendance rather than enrollment.
Getting close to hitting another Twitter milestone, I'd like to thank all my followers for showing an interest in
#txbudget
-related charts & graphs. Much appreciated, y'all.
For now, I'm going to party like it's 1999 - minus who knows how many bots.
Final count on how many Texans used the House portal for HB 1: 1,003 pages! If the first 339 pages were any indication, this means close to 2,900 people weighed in.
#txlege
#txed
Better yet, do a
#txed
pay raise or Basic Allotment increase as a constitutional amendment -- the same way billions got sent to other areas of the
#txbudget
, so voters could dedicate $$ and not have it count against spending caps.
Next date for such an election, May 4, 2024?
The only enforcement mechanism for what's on the governor's call is his signature or veto. Lawmakers can send him a teacher pay raise now and dare him to veto it. Earlier this year, they passed a property tax proposal that wasn't on his agenda, and he signed it
#txlege
Ever have one of those days where you wonder, "Gee, what would the TX Education Agency's 2020-2021 budget proposal look like if adjusted for public school enrollment growth & consumer inflation? And where would the revenue come from?"
#okItsJustMeThen
#txlege
#txed
TPPF witness mentions "three-legged stool" other states have to support schools, other public services: property, sales, and income taxes.
Does not mention that a complete elimination of property taxes - replaced by sales tax - turns TX's 2-legged stool into a pogo stick.
#txlege
ICYW, here's the "effective tax rate" for TX households, state taxes + school property tax.
To have "prepaid" the cost of vouchers for 4 kids, family would be at income level of $666,666 a year.
If they're not: the rest of us will be paying for that.
At House Appropriations hearing, Rep. Jarvis Johnson asks for a definition of "disaster" - because invoking that authority is what has led to Governor's Operation Lone Star
#txbudget
transfers, starting right after 2021 regular session.
At 7-hour, 35 minute mark of House
#txbudget
hearing that has included very grim testimony (Uvalde), Rep. Sherman talks about his visits to TX prisons:
AC in warden's office.
In the chapel.
In the commissary.
But not in all the areas where inmates are housed.
#txlege
Public Service Announcement: if my House
#txbudget
Tweets get a little garbled in the next hour or so, it might be because pretzels, an espresso, & a glass of red wine are not the makings of a balanced meal. ๐ฅจโ๏ธ๐ท
#ShouldveHadDonutsAndWings
In TX, when real spending per student increased significantly (from 1992 to 2003 or '04, depending on source): YES, outcomes improved.
And it would help if the way we measure
#txed
outcomes didn't keep changing every few years.
Ye olde info from
Another important element of the proposal, which should have been in the
#txbudget
from the very beginning back in January: raise the Basic Allotment by $1,000, to make up for the purchasing power lost to record-high inflation since Fall 2019.
See for presser on tax relief for more Texans, including the 3.8+ million households that rent their homes. (And who most likely are paying more, as a share of their incomes, of the state revenue that would pay for school tax cuts.)
#txlege
Florida did not have "better educational result" for voucher users.
As for education taxes: For decades,
#txlege
approach hasn't been "What level per student gets us the best product"? Rather, "What level of $ keeps us out of courts? OK, state will pay less than half of that."
@DeLunaEva
At least that money will now be used for a better educational result overall.
If we are being taxed for education, the money should be used to get the best product.