Democrats urge special session to increase Texas school funding

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas Democrats urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call lawmakers back for a special legislative session Monday, citing "the urgent need to address school finance and improve funding for all of our school districts."

Some of Texas' largest school districts face massive budget deficits, forcing some to cut teachers and staff for next school year. Democrats blame the cash crunch on the legislature's failure to increase basic funding for the public school system in the last legislative session.

Texas lawmakers had a record $33 billion budget surplus to allocate last year, but no money went towards increasing schools' basic allotment - the uniform per-student funding that makes up the foundation of Texas' school funding. Abbott tied school funding increases to his plan for state-subsidized private school tuition vouchers, which did not pass.

Abbott blamed schools' budget deficits on local budgeting problems and an expiration of federal pandemic funding.

"You'll be shocked to hear this, but it's not me that's responsible for this," Abbott said.

"We have the resources available to better fund our schools, so we should act," State. Rep. John Rosenthal, D-Cypress, wrote.

38 House Democrats joined Rep. Rosenthal in signing the letter.

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