How many Bills?
State Sen. Brandon Creighton said he will roll out bills of rights for teachers and parents during the 88th Legislature, although no bills had been led as of Jan. 17. Proposed education legislation
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thanks to high sales tax revenue, spikes in energy prices and overall eco- nomic growth in recent years, accord- ing to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. This is a 26.3% increase in general revenue funds compared to the pre- vious budget cycle, Hegar said during the presentation of his biennial reve- nue estimate Jan. 9. Local leaders, such as state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R Brenham, have emphasized public education initia- tives as well as topics such as property taxes. “I am con dent that the Texas Leg- islature will make both funding edu- cation and o ering property tax relief a top priority in the state’s policy and budget agendas, and I look forward to working closely with the educators in my district on the details,” Kolkhorst said in a Nov. 28 statement. Eye on education Both lawmakers and policy advo- cates said they would like to see changes made to the state’s public education system. State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R Conroe, chairs the Senate Commit- tee on Education. Although Creighton had not led bills as of press time Jan. 17, he said in a Dec. 8 interview he is continuing to work on a Parental Bill of Rights and a Teacher Bill of Rights to le in February. In a September news release, Creighton said the reforms in the Teacher Bill of Rights would include safety protections, compensation incentives and protection from retal- iation from their districts. He said the Parental Bill of Rights would increase transparency and access and “empower parents as active partici- pants in their children’s education.” Likewise, state Rep. Will Metcalf, R Conroe, said he is focused on school safety and revising standardized testing. “I am also extremely passionate about reigning in high-stakes [State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness] testing,” he said in a state- ment to Community Impact . “While I can understand the intention behind standardized testing, we as a state must nd a better way to measure student achievement, academic read- iness and district progress.” However, o cials with Conroe and Montgomery ISDs said their priority for the 88th legislative session is funding. “Conroe ISD works closely with state legislators in advocating for
Teacher Bill of Rights would include:
Parental Bill of Rights would encourage:
Parental access to curriculums and reading materials
Safety protections
As of Jan. 17, Texas legislators representing the Conroe and Montgomery area had led 74 bills. The 88th Legislature began Jan. 10. Statewide bills 204 bills led on public primary and secondary education 125 bills led regarding property taxes 92 bills led regarding higher education
Voice in health and safety decisions
Compensation incentives
Open lines of communication with schools
Protection from districts
SOURCES: SEN. BRANDON CREIGHTON, TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINE COMMUNITY IMPACT
Tackling taxes Several local lawmakers have also led bills aimed at lowering the amount property value appraisals can rise each year. Previous Community Impact reporting showed the average market property value in Montgomery County jumped 29.8% from 2021 to 2022. Creighton said at an October Greater East Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce luncheon he would like to see the cap on the annual appraised value increase for property tax pur- poses lowered this session. “We need a supermajority in the Legislature to lower the appraisal cap. It’s at 10[%], but we need it some- where down closer to 3[%],” he said. Locally, lawmakers have led bills related to property value appraisals. House Bill 335— led by state Rep. Cecil Bell, R Magnolia—and Senate Bill 152— led by Kolkhorst—propose lowering the appraisal cap to 5%. Additionally, House bills 808, 809 and 810— led by Metcalf—would require chief appraisers, board of direc- tors members and appraisal review board members to be elected instead of appointed. “One of my top priorities head- ing into the 88th legislative session is appraisal reform,” Metcalf said in a statement. “We must combat the appraisal side of the formula this session and lower appraisal caps on homesteads, put caps on commer- cial property, and bring much needed accountability and transparency to appraisal districts by electing the chief appraiser, board of directors and appraisal review boards.” Cassandra Jenkins, Kylee Hauter, Wesley Gardner and Emily Lincke con- tributed to this report.
funding to meet our rapidly growing district’s needs,” CISD spokesperson Sarah Blakelock said. “The current funding formula is a main topic of conversation. We feel it is more rea- sonable to be funded on enrollment instead of daily attendance.” Blakelock said a formula change would also allow for raises for employees. MISD Superintendent Heath Morri- son said district leaders also believe a formula change is necessary to cor- rect inequitable funding that resulted from a tax rate cap the state imposed in 2006. He also said data shows the gap between funding per student in MISD versus the state average is increasing. According to nancial reports from the Texas Education Agency, the gap in general funding per student grew 34.92% between MISD and the state from 2016-17 to 2020-21, a di erence of $1,159 per student in 2020-21. “It’s not just that there’s a gap— there’s been a gap for a long time. It’s that the gap is getting bigger and big- ger and bigger,” Morrison said in an interview. “Even if we’re increasing [funding], the state average is increas- ing at such an accelerated rate, every time a surrounding school district does something, we have less revenue to compete.” Likewise, Bob Popinski, senior director of policy with Raise Your Hand Texas—an educational policy organization—said the state is around $4,000 below the national average in per-student spending. “With 5.5 million kids on a $70 bil- lion system, it’s tough to maneuver a school nance bill through the legisla- tive process,” he said. “We’ll continue to inch forward until we meet those goals of being ... at least average in per-pupil spending when it comes to our students, if not above that.”
Texas House
1097
45
105
336
149
N
District 3
Rep. Cecil Bell has led 10 bills .
District 15
Rep. Steve Toth has led 29 bills .
District 16
Rep. Will Metcalf has led 15 bills .
Texas Senate
149
1097
LAKE CONROE
45
336
MONTGOMERY
105
CONROE
N
District 4
Sen. Brandon Creighton has led 0 bills .
District 7
Sen. Paul Bettencourt has led 5 bills .
District 18
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst has led 15 bills .
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINE COMMUNITY IMPACT
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CONROE MONTGOMERY EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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