Welcome Back!

Today is Opening Day of the 88th Legislative Session! The swearing-in ceremonies will start at 12pm for the House and the Senate.

You can watch the House ceremony here and Senate here.

Some quick updates:

• The Texas Comptroller released the Biannual Revenue Estimate for the upcoming biennium. Comptroller Hegar estimates the budget to be a record-breaking $118.2 billion with $32.7 billion in surplus. Read more about the annoucement here. You can read the full estimate report here.

• The Texas Commission on Special Education Funding released their final report. The report made 14 recommendations policy change recommendations, including changing the funding system to a "Service Intensity Based Formula System" as well as a recommendation to allow for special education vouchers. Three members (Senator Zaffarini, Representative Huberty, and Representative Gonzalez) submitted letters opposing Special Education Vouchers. You can find the full report here and a full list of the recommendations below.

• Important 88th Legislative Session dates (listed below) have been updated on the Texas Legislature Online.

• Extracurricular/Co-Curricular Report released (from HB 22 from the 85th Session): While not a surprising revelation, the report detailed the positive influence extracurricular activities have on students academic outcomes and had data directly from Texas districts substantiating this long understood claim. However, the report states that it will take at least five years to full implement a "student activity indicator," or no sooner than the 2027-2028 school year. Full report found here.

• Public Education Interim Report released: You can find the full report here. While the report did contain significants parts of BCEC's testimony on Chronic Absenteeism and text shared with the committee on the inclusion of non-STAAR metrics at the Elementary and Middle school levels, it will be up to the next Chair of the Public Education Committee to set the tone and agenda for the session.