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A Top Priority
Senator Nelson introduces bill to boost teacher salaries
The Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House have all professed that fixing school finance is a top priority this legislative session. The question has been, what does each one mean by "fix."
The answer started to take shape January 15, when State Senator Jane Nelson introduced SB3, which provides for a $5,000 across-the-board increase for every full-time public school teacher in Texas. (Note that the first 30 bill numbers in the Senate are reserved for the Lt. Governor's priority bills.) Senator Nelson's bill is estimated to cost $3.7 billion in each biennium going forward.
The Governor's approach to "fixing" education financing in Texas relies heavily on creating incentives so that the best teachers get paid more. Chairman Scott Brister, picked by the Governor to chair the Select Committee on Education Finance Reform, said recently we need to focus on "what we get" from increased investment in education. He also made it clear that across-the-board teacher pay increases make teachers happy, but don't improve student outcomes. In a recent presentation to the
Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), he added that no one should want to spend more and get the same, unacceptable student results.
Speaker Bonnen, in an address to the TPPF, said, "If you are going to put more money in the system, and we should, you've got to make sure you are getting a return on that investment. That return is kids who can read and write and do math. The Texas House is going to leave school finance, and property tax reform, and education accountability, and teacher pay better than we found it." He went on to say that our education system needs to be producing tax-paying adults.
These three players set the tone for the Legislature. They have assured us of their commitment to civility and to solving problems. Just don't expect them to agree on how to solve those problems.
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Austin-bound
HEB Chamber members won't want to miss the advocacy trip
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Ramsey
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Members of the Coalition of East Tarrant Chambers will be in Austin March 6-7 to meet with legislators during Tarrant County Days, and it
promises to be a busy two days.
The visit will kick off with a luncheon on Wednesday, March 6, at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel near the Capitol. The speaker will be the Texas Tribune's Ross Ramsey.
Following lunch, the group will go to the Capitol to hear presentations by the legislators.
Afterward, Coalition members will return to the Doubletree to join legislators for the Tarrant County Days Reception.
Thursday morning will feature breakfast and photos with the Tarrant delegation, followed by more meetings with legislators.
The cost to attend is $200 for Coalition members (which includes members of the HEB Chamber), and $250 for all others, and covers all of the events noted above. Sponsorship opportunities also are available. Click here to register and/or sponsor. In addition, a block of rooms has been reserved at the Doubletree, go online or call 512-478-7000.
This is a rare opportunity to collectively meet with local legislators in Austin and discuss the issues that matter most to you. We hope you will want to join us. To learn more, call 817-283-1521.
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Coming to Order
Committee assignments announced for legislators
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick announced committee assignments for the Texas Senate on January 18. Our local senators received the following assignments:
- Kelly Hancock (R, Dist. 9): Chair, Business & Commerce Committee; Vice Chair, Transportation Committee; member of the Finance Committee, Property Tax and Natural Resources & Committee and the Economic Development Committee.
- Beverly Powell (D, Dist. 10): Member of the Education, Higher Education and Health & Human Services Committees.
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Jane Nelson (R, Dist 12): Chairman of the Finance Committee; member of the State Affairs Committee.
In addition, Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen announced committee assignments for the House of Representatives on January 23. Our local representatives received the following assignments:
- Stephanie Klick (R, Dist. 91): Chair, Elections Committee; member, Human Services Committee.
- Jonathan Stickland (R, Dist. 92): Member of the County Affairs and Land & Resource Management Committees.
- Matt Krause (R, Dist. 93): Member of the General Investigating, Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, Redistricting and Transportation Committees.
- Giovanni Capriglione (R, Dist. 98): Member of the Appropriations and Pension, Investments & Financial Services Committees.
- Chris Turner (R, Dist. 101): Chair, Higher Education; Vice Chair, Redistricting Committee; member, Insurance Committee.
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Four on the Floor
Legislators say education and property tax are likely priorities
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our members of the Texas House recently made presentations addressing issues for the State Legislative session: Matt Krause, Jonathan Stickland, Tony Tinderholt and Chris Turner. The tone projected by their presentations was one of optimism that the session would achieve real results.
The meeting took place four days before Representative Dennis Bonnen was to be elected Speaker of the House. All four expressed confidence in Speaker Bonnen, expecting him to be fair and even-handed with each member regardless of their party affiliation or the nature of their positions. Everyone's voice will be heard; fairness will prevail.
The consensus was that reforming education funding and providing property tax relief (or at least restraint) were going to be the primary issues to be resolved. Both are going to require new funding and concern was expressed that no new taxes or fees were likely and the ability to move money around was not adequate to fully address either issue.
There was agreement that the testing regimen for K-12 education needs to be revised and reduced.
A large number of questions from the floor were about short-term rentals (STRs) -- the temporary renting out of a furnished home, apartment or condominium. No one claimed knowledge of a legislator planning to introduce legislation to regulate STRs. City ordinances to regulate STRs are now in the courts. There was some concern that different courts might rule differently, creating more issues. Representative Stickland was adamant that he was opposed to severely restricting STRs. Representative Tinderholt said he expected the Legislature to get involved.
Click here to hear Speaker Bonnen discuss the House in the 86th Texas Legislature (he starts speaking 12 minutes and 30 seconds into the video.)
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In Transition
Outgoing Speaker Straus proposes $5 billion boost for education
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Straus
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It is the responsibility of the Speaker of the House to draft a budget for the coming biennium that will be presented to the House in the early days of the new session. Outgoing Speaker Joe Straus and his staff drafted a budget and presented it to Speaker Bonnen early in the session.
On a conference call with the North Texas Commission on January 3, Speaker Straus confided that his team was submitting a budget with $5 billion in new money for K-12 education. "That's above inflation, above student population growth, real new money," the Speaker said. Straus also said he was maintaining his campaign organization and planned to be active.
Senator Jane Nelson was responsible for crafting the Senate Budget, which also allocates about $6 billion in new education funding. Unlike the House version, the Senate Budget commits $3.7 billion to across-the-board teacher raises. The other $2.3 billion is earmarked for stopping the slide in the state portion of the school maintenance and operations and reducing the "Robin Hood" transfer payments.
This is another clear sign that the big three (Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker) all agree on the target, just not on the best path to get there.
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Paper Work
Bills are already pouring in, many more likely are on the way
Once the new members of the Texas House and Senate were sworn in, they could begin to introduce legislation. Our new State Senator in District 10, Beverly Powell, has introduced three bills relating to education and economic development. In total, 1,257 bills were introduced by the end of the session's first week. History says we can expect between 4,000 and 6,000 bills to be introduced overall.
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 The Chamber's Board has five goal teams. One of these teams is Business Advocacy, and it is chaired by
Howard Shotwell. The team's responsibilities include government relations, issues identification, identifying collaboration opportunities and ensuring Chamber members always have a "seat at the table."
We welcome your support! If you would like to get involved in the Chamber's business advocacy work, contact Mary Frazior, 817-283-1521,
[email protected].
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| We thank our business advocacy sponsors:
Sponsorship does not necessarily imply endorsement of the Chamber's policy positions. |
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The Chamber is 4-Star accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. |
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