1. Legislative Update Special Session Report
Presented to the Board of Trustees by
Dr. Maroba Zoeller, Chief Governmental Relations Officer
July 24, 2017

2. Governor’s Key Special Session Agenda Items:
Pay raise and salary increase for teachers
Re-design the school finance system
Provide ESAs (aka/vouchers)to parents of children with special needs.
Reform the laws governing ad valorem property taxes
Legislate the use of multi-occupancy showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and changing rooms.

3. Teacher Pay Raise
Although Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, touted a plan to give teachers a pay raise of up to $1,000 depending on classroom experience, the Texas House and Senate couldn’t agree on a mechanism to pay for the proposal.
So, no pay raise for teachers.

4. School Finance
At the end of the 29-day special legislative session, the Legislature passed a greatly-scaled back version of House Bill 21 that will spend $351 million on schools and another $212 million to help control rising health care costs for retired teachers.
HB 21 is to be funded by transferring from the Health and Human Services Commission a total of $563 million in General Revenue appropriations for the  biennium to TEA ($351 million) and TRS ($212 million) for implementation.

5. HB 21
Governor Greg Abbott quietly signed HB 21 into law. Among other things, it provides:
$60 million for charter schools to use for leasing, paying off debt or paying property taxes on instructional facilities
$40 million for two grant programs—one for students with dyslexia and the other for students with autism—to be evenly divided
$150 million for an ASATR hardship program. The grants will be divided into $100 million for the school year and $50 million for the next school year.
$212 million to help retired educators pay for TRS-Care premiums.
creates the Texas Commission on Public School Finance to develop and make recommendations for improvements to the current public school finance system or for new methods of financing public schools.

6. School Finance Reform
 The new commission to study the state’s outdated and under- funded school finance system and to make recommendations for the 86th legislative session, which convenes in January 2019.
The commission is to be composed of 13 members:
four members appointed by the governor;
four members appointed by the lieutenant governor;
four members appointed by the speaker; and
a member of the SBOE, as designated by the chair of that board.
Governor Appointees must have an interest in public education and include at least:
one person who is a current or retired classroom teacher with at least 10 years of teaching experience;
one person who is a member of the business community; and
one person who is a member of the civic community.
Lieutenant governor and the speaker appointees must each consist of: three members of the applicable legislative chamber; and an administrator in the public school system or an elected member of the board of trustees of a school district.

7. School Finance Reform
One Legislator’s comment on the Commission on School Finance:
Legislators should think like they just landed from Mars, if they ever get serious about overhauling the state’s public school finance system.
“Why don’t we play like we just landed from Mars and just start from scratch? What would you want your school system to look like?…I promise you we’d come out with a pretty good model.”

8. Other Education Bills Passed
HB 30 - Relating to the transfer of certain appropriations to the Texas Education Agency and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the adjustment of appropriations for public school finance.
the August 2019 FSP payment to school districts be deferred and made in September 2019.
HB 30 would set the basic allotment for each fiscal year of the upcoming biennium at $5,350, an increase from the $5,140 basic allotment set in the fiscal general appropriations act.

9. ISSUES THAT WERE PASSED
Sunset legislation to extend the Texas Medical Board and behavioral health licensing agency, Senate Bills 20 and 60 by Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano);
Establishing a statewide commission to recommend public school funding improvements, as well as minor changes to school finance formulas, extending Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction (ASATR), increased funding for the Teacher Retirement System and healthcare (TRS-Care), and increased funding for children with dyslexia and autism, House Bills 21 and 30;
Municipal annexation reform, Senate Bill 6;
Restricting local regulation of tree removal on private land, House Bill 7;
Harsher criminal penalties for mail-in voter ballot fraud, Senate Bill 5;

10. ISSUES THAT FAILED Property tax reform, Senate Bill 1;
Regulation of multi-occupancy showers, locker rooms, restrooms and changing rooms at public facilities or the "Bathroom Bill," Senate Bill 3;
Teacher pay increases;
Expedited local permitting processes;
Caps on state and local spending, as well as restricting local governments from changing rules midway through construction projects;
Separate vouchers for children with special needs;
Banning texting-while-driving regulations in cities;
Prohibiting public entities from collecting union dues; and
Prohibiting local taxpayer funding for abortion

11. Dr. Maroba Zoeller Chief Governmental Relations Officer (P) 972-236-0618 maroba.zoeller@allenisd.org