The influx of nearly $8.5 billion to Texas schools last year did not stop many from cutting programs, eliminating staffing and closing campuses. <\/p>\n
The El Paso district, for example, faces a nearly $53 million budget shortfall and may soon declare a financial emergency<\/a>. Meanwhile, the Crystal City district in South Texas recently told families that it has less than $500<\/a> in its bank account. <\/p>\n On Monday, school leaders from across the state will detail the financial challenges still plaguing their districts roughly a year after receiving the significant increase in funding. <\/p>\n The Texas House Public Education Committee hearing will focus on the implementation of House Bill 2<\/a>, which provided schools with new money for teacher pay, educator training and special education. Lawmakers will gather recommendations on ways to better prepare teachers for careers in the classroom and improve services for children with disabilities. <\/p>\n Declining enrollment<\/a> \u2014 triggered by low birth rates, more schooling options and fears regarding immigration enforcement \u2014 has largely contributed to the financial crisis. Public schools receive funding based on attendance, meaning they receive less money if fewer students show up to class. <\/p>\n Inconsistent funding from the Legislature has also played a role. <\/p>\n Prior to the passage of HB 2<\/a>, Texas students endured six years without their schools receiving comprehensive funding increases \u2014 largely a result of Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s insistence on not approving a funding package without a school voucher program attached. Approval of last year\u2019s school finance overhaul came after lawmakers greenlit education savings accounts \u2014 often called vouchers \u2014 that allow families to use taxpayer funds for private school or home schooling. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, HB 2 increased teacher pay based on years of experience and districts\u2019 enrollment. Lawmakers also expanded Texas\u2019 pay-for-performance system<\/a>, which allows more teachers to qualify for raises. And they required that districts phase out the use of educators without teaching certifications and set aside money for teachers who sign up for high-quality training programs.<\/p>\n Lawmakers also approved significant changes to how Texas pays for special education. Districts will soon receive money for students with disabilities based on the needs of each child, as opposed to the classroom setting the school assigns them to. <\/p>\n Those changes<\/a> take effect next school year. The state now must reimburse districts $1,000 for each evaluation of a child suspected of having a disability, which can cost between $1,000 and $5,000 or more to complete. <\/p>\n Notably, public schools must conduct and pay for the special education evaluations<\/a> of families wanting to participate in the new voucher program if they request one. <\/p>\n Texas\u2019 voucher program launches next school year, which public school officials have noted could result in additional funding losses if students leave their campuses for other options. <\/p>\n Legislative budget experts estimated<\/a> that about 24,500 public school students would initially leave for private schools due to limited space. Of almost 96,000 students<\/a> recently invited to join the voucher program, 57% previously attended a private school or home-school. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The influx of nearly $8.5 billion to Texas schools last year did not stop many from cutting programs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11061,392,287,1563,91,11538,7908,1564,43089,64599,27,2810,29,293,28,11362],"class_list":["post-317387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-disabilities","tag-greg-abbott","tag-politics","tag-public-education","tag-special-education","tag-state-agencies","tag-state-funding","tag-state-government","tag-teacher-pay","tag-teacher-quality","tag-texas","tag-texas-education-agency","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-public-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}