FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Contact: Jennifer Harris

FEB. 15, 2023 [email protected] | 512-773-7168

Fastest Growth School Districts Call on Texas Legislature to Stand Up for Public Schools

AUSTIN, TEXAS-The following statement on the Texas Legislative Session and fast-growing school districts’ legislative priorities should be attributed to Dr. Greg Smith, Executive Director, Fast Growth School Coalition:

Each January in an odd-numbered year, the Texas Legislature plays the role of Rod Tidwell and Comptroller Glen Hegar could be our Jerry Maguire. “Show us the money” takes the form of the much anticipated Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE), the comptroller’s best estimate for how much money state budget writers have as they write the Appropriations Bill to fund Texas government - including our public schools - for the next two years. 

On Jan. 9, just prior to the Legislature gaveling in, Comptroller Hegar announced the state would have $188.23 billion of revenue available for general purpose spending. That’s about a 26% increase from the previous biennium (2022-2023), and it provides a historic opportunity for once in a generation investments in education, infrastructure, workforce, and tax relief. 

Let’s break that $188.23 billion in revenue down further to drill down into what monies state lawmakers have to fund key programs, including our fast growth school priorities:

• $7.34 billion will be transferred to the State Highway Fund 

State of Our Schools Report: A Look at Facilities and Funding

As a member of the BASIC Coalition, Fast Growth School Coalition is pleased to share the latest State of Our Schools 2021 Report. BASIC is s non-partisan coalition of public school advocates and allies who support federal funding to help modernize and build K-12 public school facilities. 

Public PK-12 school facility funding systems are highly local and decentralized, with no established federal interest or national data source on public school infrastructures. That’s where the 21st Century School Fund, the International WELL Building Institute, and the National Council on School Facilities -- all affiliated with BASIC Coalition - come in. Through an in-depth review of public financial data and field experience, this new report found a current facilities funding gap of $85 billion a year. 

While school districts have been spending about an average of $110.1 billion every year on maintenance, operations, and capital construction, this is falling further and further short, leaving school districts unprepared to provide adequate and equitable school facilities. Proposed federal investment in rebuilding America’s schools has the potential to close the capital investment gap by about 22%. 

Testimony Provided to House Public Education Committee on HB 1525

By Greg Smith, Executive Director of the Fast Growth School Coalition
March 23, 2021

Greetings Chairman Dutton and Committee.  I am Greg Smith; the Executive Director of the Fast Growth School Coalition and I am here to testify on HB 1525.

Thank you for taking the groundbreaking Huberty-Taylor Act, HB 3, and striving to improve it with HB 1525.  Today, I will visit with you about the improvement of the funds allocated under Sec. 48.111, otherwise known as the Fast Growth Allotment.  First and foremost, we are thankful that the 86th Legislature and TEA have provided resources and support to many of our fast-growing school districts across Texas even if that distribution was not always focused on the fast-growing districts it was intended to serve.  We are eager to work with this committee and TEA to improve the distribution of Fast Growth Allotment Funds so that those funds go to districts who are truly growing quickly over time.

Under the existing rules, the allotment left out at least 14 school districts that are fast growing over a long, sustained period.  Unfortunately, HB 1525 does not correct this.  So, districts like Klein, Northside, Cy-Fair, and Socorro, to name a few, are growing and building schools but are not in the mix to receive an allotment even though they check the box on long-term sustainable growth and merit the designated support.