Updates
Tuesday April
19, 2005
Senate Education Committee will meet at 9:30 am in E1.028. Committee
Schedule
House Public Education
Committee will meet at 2:00 p.m. or on adjournment in E2.036. Committee
Schedule
Monday, April
18, 2005
Amendments to the Senate substitute to CSHB2 are due by today. The Senate Education
Committee plans call for them to lay out their substitute on Tuesday, April
19, voting it out of committee on Tuesday, April 26.
The previous 356 page
substitute for House Bill 2 is available for downloading. A summary
of the Senate version of CSHB 2 is also available for downloading.
April
15, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 8:30 the Senate Education Committee will
meet in room E1.028. Committee
Schedule
April
4, 2005
Committee Hearings
House Public Education
Committee will meet Tuesday, April 5, 2005 at 2:00 or upon final
adjournment.
The Committee will not hear invited or public testimony on Tuesday. Committee
Schedule.
Senate Education Committee will meet Tuesday, April 5, 2005 at 8:30am
to continue review of HB 2 (Grusendorf).
March
28, 2005
Committee Hearing information
Senate Education Committee will meet Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at
8:30am in E1028.
The Committee will discuss
HB 2 (Grusendorf) - Relating to public education and public school
finance matters.
The Committee will hear
invited testimony only.
House Public Education
Committee will meet Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 2 pm or upon adjournment
in E2.036
Committee
Schedule March
23, 2005
Comptroller says
House Bill 3 falls short of funding goals - Wedneday,
March 23, 2005
A letter sent
yesterday to Speaker of the House Tom Craddick and Chairman of the House Ways
and Means Committee Representative Jim Keffer by Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton
Strayhorn says that the tax plan in House Bill 3 will fall about $4 billion short
of the amount the House thought it would raise.
" My heart goes out
to them," said Comptroller Strayhorn. "They just passed
the largest tax bill in history, and it does not balance. They
thought they were raising $12 billion in revenue. I ran the numbers
and it raises about $8 billion in revenue."
Speaker Craddick said
in a written
statement, "I am disappointed and disheartened by the
announcement Comptroller Strayhorn issued regarding HB 3. We were
all completely taken aback by her actions today."
Chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee Representative Jim Keffer (R-Eastland)
responded in a press
conference yesterday, "We can only conclude that the comptroller's
office is either inept, purposely misleading the media and the
public or just playing politics or maybe all three."
House leaders continue
to stand by their original figures. Speaker Craddick said, "We
still feel the numbers are correct. We voted twice to make sure
everything was right. We don't see where anything has changed."
March
17, 2005
Special Update - Thursday,
March 17, 2005
The House suspended its rules today to allow the House Ways and Means Committee
to meet and consider pending business including HJR 35 and HB 784 by Bohac which
caps appraisal values at 5% and HJR 50 by Pitts which provides for a statewide
property tax.
The Committee voted these
three bills out this afternoon and the measures procedurally will
be sent to the House Calendars Committee. The Calendars Committee
has the authority to set these bills for consideration by the full
House.
The House Ways
and Means Committee had a public hearing on three
bills HJR 50, HJR 35 and HB 1006 Wednesday, March 16, 2005.
HJR
50 - Pitts-Left pending
This bill proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution authorizing
a state property tax for public education in Texas.
Speaking on behalf of
the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association
of School Boards, Amy Beneski spoke in
opposition to the bill saying that TASA is concerned that state
property taxes would be raised without providing any additional
revenues to
the schools.
Executive Director of
the Texas School Coalition Clayton Downing spoke in opposition
to the bill.
Texas Association of
Community Schools Executive Director Kent McGraw was in opposition
to the bill.
HJR
35 - Bohac-Left pending
This Bill Proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing
the legislature to limit the maximum average annual increase
in
the appraised value
of real property for ad valorem tax purposes to five percent
or more.
Texas Association of
School Boards President Elect and Northside ISD San Antonio Trustee
Katie Reed spoke for
TASB in opposition
to the bill. Reed stated that the bill would potentially
punish schools
in terms of revenue funding as property values are increasing.
Speaking for the Texas
Association of School Administrators Amy Beneski opposed the bill
saying lowering the property
appraisal cap would
negatively affect public school revenues.
Executive director of
the Texas Association of Community Schools Ken McGraw was in opposition
to the bill.
HB
1006 - Isett/Bohac/Wong-Left
pending
This bill Relates to
certain limitations on the ad valorem tax rates of certain taxing
units.
Senate Press Conference - Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst was joined by
members of the Senate Education Committee in laying
out a timeline
for
Senate
Hearings
and bringing a school reform bill to the floor of
the Senate.
"The
shipwreck of Texas school finance system has run aground," said
Dewhurst. "The House has passed these two bills, that shows
that they're willing to work with us to right the course. And in
the Senate we're going to work with them to make sure our Texas students,
each of them, has the opportunity to have a first rate education," he
added.
The timeline, as laid
out in the press conference, calls for the Senate Education and
Finance Committees
to begin
hearings
the week
of March 27, with the goal of bringing their
school reform bill, to the Senate floor the week of May
18.
The news
release from
this press conference is available online. Additional information
on this
press conference
is available
from the official Texas
Senate News website.
The video and audio from
this press conference are available from the Senate
Media Archives.
March
16, 2005
Texas House of Representatives
is scheduled to convene Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.
Texas Senate is scheduled
to convene Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Committee Hearings
House
Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday, March 16, 2005, 10:30 a.m.
or upon final adjournment/recess E2.010
The House Ways and Means
Committee suspended the five-day posting rule at the end of the
House’s session today to allow them to have a public hearing
on three bills HJR 50, HJR 35 and HB 1006.
HJR
50-Pitts - This bill proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution
authorizing a state property tax for public education in Texas.
The Texas Senate has
already announced that a statewide property tax as the funding
mechanism in the Senate version of the school finance bill (Senate
Bill 2), which has not received a public hearing yet.
HJR
35-Bohac - This Bill Proposes a constitutional amendment
authorizing the legislature to limit the maximum average annual
increase in the appraised value of real property for ad valorem
tax purposes to five percent or more.
HB
1006-Isett/Bohac/Wong - This bill Relates to certain limitations
on the ad valorem tax rates of certain taxing units.
March
15, 2005
House
passes HB 3
HB 3 Passes in
House of Representatives to 3rd Reading
Final
Version of CSHB 2
House of Representatives
convenes at 10:00 a.m.
Hearing Information
HB
3 - Keffer, Jim / Grusendorf 3rd Reading Relating to property
tax relief and protection of taxpayers, taxes and fees, and other
matters relating to the financing of public schools; providing
civil and criminal penalties.
March
14, 2005
The Texas House of Representatives
is scheduled to convene Monday, March 14, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.
House
Bill 3 will be considered by the full House of Representatives
today.
There are over 80 amendments
pending on HB 3.
On Friday, March 11, 2005, the House of Representatives met briefly before
Speaker Tom Craddick postponed floor debate on HB 3 until Monday.
HB
2 was heard on third and final reading. It passed on a record
vote of 72-69-2.
March
10, 2005
HB 2 Passes in
the Texas House—Vote was 76-71
A number of other amendments were added to HB 2 before the final
vote.
One of the amendments restricts school districts from paying the
superintendent a salary that would exceed more than 400 percent of
the salary of the district's highest paid classroom teacher.
Additionally, the house approved an amendment which will require
high school students to choose and take a college readiness assessment
instrument such as the ACT or SAT.
The amendment setting the August 1, 2006 as the effective date
for the school start and end provision in HB 2 was withdrawn prior
to
the final vote.
The Texas Senate is expected
to substitute House Bill 2 for their Senate Bill 2 and will schedule
public hearings on this bill in
the near future. The Chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee
Florence
Shapiro (R-Plano) when asked whether HB 2 would be altered said, "That's
very likely. In fact, what's more than very likely? Is 'absolutely'
too flamboyant a term?"
This House session was archived as part
one and part
two for video
and audio streaming via the internet. Please check the House
Video Calendar for the appropriate channel to access.
House
Bill 3 will be considered by the full House of Representatives
today.
Eighty amendments to HB 3 have been prefiled for consideration.
If HB 3 does not pass and become law, House Bill 2 will have no effect.
March
7, 2005
Democrats
offer alternative school finance plan
Texas Democratic lawmakers will present their “Learn and Live” proposal
as a substitute for House Bill 2 on Tuesday. The Democrat’s
plan calls for more state funding and leaves out the strict school
reforms of the Republican backed HB 2. The plan would increase
education spending by $5 billion over the next two years, compared
to $3 billion
under the current version of HB2. It also calls for raising teacher
pay by $4,800 over the next two years and restoring health care
benefits cut in 2003. Funding would also increase for bilingual
education,
mentoring programs, pre-kindergarten classes and initiatives designed
to help ninth-graders stay in school.
CSHB
2 to be heard on full floor of Texas House of Representatives
tomorrow
March
2, 2005
House Committee
on Ways & Means
HB
3 Keffer, Jim/ et al
The committee met and voted HB 3 out of committee 6-2.
The bill would roll back local school property taxes by:
-
Raising sales taxes
from 6.25 percent to 7.2 percent. It expands state sales taxes
to include car washes, bottled water, car repairs and billboard
ads. Additionally
the bill would set the state sales tax rate for boats and motor vehicles
at 7.35 percent
-
Raising the tax
on cigarettes by $1 per pack.
-
Creating a business
payroll tax which would impose a payroll tax of 1.1 percent on
wages up to
$80,000.
Video and audio from
this committee meeting is available from the House
Video Archives.
March
2, 2005
HB 2 Committee Substitute Available Online
To view the bill, click
here. January
27, 2005
Gov.
Perry Outlines 'New Era of Possibility' for All Texans
Speaker
Of The House Tom Craddick Announces Committee Assignments January
12, 2005
Lt. Govenor Dewhurst Unveils School Finance
Plan
|
