At the beginning of the year, school leaders across Texas sounded optimistic that lawmakers would dip into the state’s $32.7 billion budget surplus to raise teacher pay and boost funding to help districts keep up with inflation.
At the end of the 2023 Texas legislative session, neither of those things happened. A bill that would have sent billions to districts across the state for teacher pay raises and other priorities died when Republicans in the House and Senate couldn’t reach a compromise before the regular session ended on May 29.
Lawmakers could still pass legislation to raise school funding in a special session. But in the meantime, school districts across the state are struggling to plan their budgets without a clear picture of how much money they’ll have to work with. With deadlines approaching for having their budgets approved, some Tarrant County school district leaders say they don’t have time to wait for lawmakers to act.
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