Legislative priorities From the cover
Breaking it down
Also of note
The overview
School districts are looking at the Legislature to fund several items in the 2025 session. Officials from CCISD and other Galveston County-based districts said at a Dec. 2 meeting with state representatives they want the state to pass legislation that will increase the stu- dent safety allotment, which the Legislature increased by $0.28 per student in 2023, and gave an additional $15,000 per campus, Community Impact previously reported. Other changes include adjusting state code to give teachers more support in dealing with disruptive students and grant funding opportu- nities for behavioral placement programs, per CCISD documents. CCISD saw an uptick in funding for security and monitoring in fiscal year 2023-24 due in part to an additional $1 million from the state that fiscal year, budget documents show. However, those numbers don’t include possible projects funded by bonds over that time.
In broader funding efforts, several school districts across the state are seeking an increase to the state’s per-student allotment, which has sat at $6,160 since 2019, according to the Texas Education Agency. Bills in 2023 that would have increased the allotment or provided funding for public schools failed in most instances, Community Impact previously reported. However, CCISD officials said the district generally does not have funding issues and none of its current programming is dependent on what the state opts to fund. Despite this, officials are still eying funding in a number of key areas, including special education, teacher and employee pay, and help with insurance premiums for districts at higher risk along the state’s coastline. For special education, which has turned into a growing need for school districts, CCISD Superin- tendent Karen Engle said in a meeting with other districts and representatives on Dec. 2 that she anticipates the district to spend an additional $9 million on special education compared to what the state provides. State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, said at the Dec. 2 meeting that funding of safety, teacher pay and special education will provide schools with more money but wouldn’t address the basic allotment specifically. “Everybody wants the basic allotment to go up, but then you want funding for all these other items, so how do we do that?” Bonnen said. “By definition, [that funding] is not going into the basic allotment. You’re still getting it, but you’re not getting it through that avenue of employment.”
For Bay Area legislators, priorities for the 89th legislative session include immigration, additional restrictions on lobbying and campaign-related funds, and penalties related to sexually explicit material created with arti cial intelligence, according to bills led in the Texas Legislature. Statewide, legislators are focused on a number of issues, including property tax reduction, school voucher programs and funding for various educational topics, including student safety, according to lings. O cials with Clear Creek ISD are looking for allotment increases for school safety and special education, Chief Communications O cer Elaina Polsen said. Other items such as insurance for storms and teacher salaries are also on the district’s agenda. Meanwhile, League City o cials are hoping to make progress on the timeline and funding for the Grand Parkway extension, which will go through the city’s west side. However, no bills led as of Dec. 19 deal directly with the extension.
Clear Creek ISD security and monitoring funding over time
A new legislative session $20B in surplus revenue for state 1,500+ bills led in rst month 140 days for regular session
$8M
$5.42M
$6M
$6.33M
$4M
$2M
1,296 of 13,090 bills led in 2023 regular session became law
9.9% of bills
$0
SOURCES: TEXAS COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE, TEXAS LEGISLATURE, TEXAS LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE LIBRARY COMMUNITY IMPACT
NOTE: FUNDING GOES TOWARD DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS, SUCH AS STAFF, MONITORS AND SOFTWARE, AMONG OTHER ITEMS. SOURCE: CLEAR CREEK ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
What residents should know
see progress on the timeline and funding allocation. He called it the most “impactful” item and believes it will be a key factor in the city’s development of the southwest side of town. The city is expected to use $6 million from its 2019 bond to help pay for the extension, according to the city’s website. Long also said the city is supporting a bill authored in part by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, to end taxpayer-funded lobbying.
League City, which is the largest city in the Bay Area with more than 120,000 residents , has two main priorities this session, Mayor Nick Long said. Long said the “absolute, biggest priority” is push- ing for more diligence and progress on the Grand Parkway extension through League City, which is currently slated to begin around 2027 and be done around 2030, according to documents from the Texas Department of Transportation. Long said the project has “languished” for years and he wants to
“[The Grand Parkway project] is probably where 95% of our energy goes at the state
level. We’ll certainly be looking at other stu , but that one is by far the biggest.” NICK LONG, LEAGUE CITY MAYOR
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