Lawmakers start new session with budget surplus of $33B
The 88th session of the Texas Legislature began at noon Tuesday, a day after Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released an updated estimate of the revenue available for lawmakers to work with that included an unprecedented surplus of nearly $33 billion. Click here to read more.
TCTA will be following the hundreds of bills that could affect teachers, students and schools and will keep you updated on their progress throughout the session. You can find the latest legislative news on our Capitol Updates webpage, with highlights reported in eUpdate each week.
In other legislative action this week:
- The House and Senate met Tuesday to adopt the rules that will govern their operations throughout the session.
- The Senate rules remain mostly unchanged from last session’s, though the shift to a combined Education Committee that includes a Higher Education Subcommittee (rather than two separate committees) was formalized.
- Today, the House and Senate met in a joint session for more procedural actions, including the statewide canvassing of votes for governor and lieutenant governor, and then adjourned until next week.
- We may see the first versions of the state budget when lawmakers return after MLK Day, and TCTA will be examining the bills to determine how these initial drafts address such issues as teacher salaries, health insurance, and a retiree cost-of-living adjustment.
Be sure to read TCTA's preview of the legislative session for more on what's expected on education issues. Read it online here or in your copy of the winter issue of The Classroom Teacher, which was mailed earlier this month.
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