Latest Update: 27 February, 2025
Summary: Journal of blogs, articles, and sources about SCHOOL ISSUES in the 89th Texas Legislature, 2025. • Willow Park Civics reads widely, deeply, and daily, and then provides an INDEX of the activities of the 89th Texas Legislature, whose regular session is scheduled to meet from January 14, 2025, to June 2, 2025.
• Latest post: 25 February, 2025
Schools. 89th TX Legislative Session, 2025
• Journal of Willow Park Civics Blogs, other articles, and sources about SCHOOL ISSUES in the 89th Texas Legislature, 2025.
Journal
• Is TEA The Next Education Agency To Go? Dallas Express, 26 February 2025
There has been ongoing speculation that President Donald Trump may consider eliminating the federal Department of Education. However, recent state legislation indicates that Texas’s Education Agency (TEA) might face similar scrutiny.
State Rep. Andy Hopper (R-Decatur) introduced HB 2657. The bill’s text repeatedly states that its goal is nothing less than the full “abolition” of the statewide education agency and the repeal of the “public school accountability and assessment system.”
• Senator Wants to End Faculty Power in University Decision-Making, Texas Scorecard, Texas Scorecard, 25 February, 2025
A new measure was filed to limit the power of faculty senates by positioning them solely as advisory councils.
Senate Bill 1489 by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) suggests that faculty senates—bodies of elected representatives from university faculties—should not have any final decision-making authority on any matter.
• Texas House Unveils Education Package, Setting Table for Policy Fights, The Texan, 24 February 2025
After a bruising 2024 primary and new leadership, the Texas House is closer than ever to passing a school choice plan.
Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) has said he expects this session to be, more than anything else, an education session, and last week the Texas House dropped a payload of bills to that effect.
The two-pronged centerpiece of that package from Chairman Brad Buckley (R-Salado) is House Bills (HB) 2 and 3 — the chamber’s blueprints for school finance, teacher pay raises, and Education Savings Accounts (ESA).
• House Bill Seeks to Restrict Children's Access to 'Sexually Explicit Material' in Public Libraries, The Texan, 24 February 2025
The bill intends to build on Texas' 2023 "READER" Act.
Enhanced library oversight, stronger protections for minors, and increased parental involvement have become hot button topics for lawmakers and citizens alike, and now a bill has been proposed that intends to regulate the accessibility of “sexually explicit materials” to minors in public libraries.
House Bill 3225 would broadly define “access” to include any method by which a library obtains materials, whether physically, electronically, or otherwise. It also specifies that the law would apply to libraries that are municipally financed, operated, and free to the public.
• Senators on Texas Education Committee Advance Teacher Pay Raises, Texas Scorecard, 21 February 2025
The measure would also expand teachers’ opportunities to receive performance-based bonuses and provide them with free pre-kindergarten.
In an 11-0 vote, senators approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 26 by State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe). The measure is the first part of a “Texas Teacher Bill of Rights” legislative package.
• Under Texas House bill, value of education savings accounts would be tied to public school funding, The Texas Tribune, 12 February 2025
The Texas House’s priority proposal that would let families use public funds for their children’s private schooling diverges from the Senate plan when it comes to how much money students would receive, which applicants would take priority and how the program accommodates students with disabilities.
• Lawmakers Propose Limits on School Superintendent Salaries, Texas Scorecard, 19 February 2025
Taxpayer-funded salaries for Texas school districts’ top administrators have skyrocketed in recent years.
Two Texas lawmakers have proposed legislation to limit the salaries of school superintendents.
Last school year, the state’s highest superintendent salary topped half a million dollars.
Eight superintendents received salaries above $400,000, and another 81 received $300,000 or more. The lucrative salaries are supplemented by benefits and bonuses—all at taxpayers’ expense.
House Bill 2562 by State Rep. Carrie Isaac (R–Wimberley) would limit the salaries of school superintendents to twice the amount of the highest annual salary paid to a classroom teacher in the district. The measure would apply to all independent school districts and open-enrollment charter schools.
House Bill 974 by State Rep. Ben Bumgarner (R–Flower Mound) would limit superintendents’ annual salaries to no more than the governor’s salary, currently $153,750. Bonuses would be included in calculating the salaries that ISDs and charter schools pay their top administrators.
Burrows called the pair of bills “historic” and a “defining issue of this session.” The Texan, 20 February 2025
The Texas House has filed its pair of education bills, one for public school funding and the other to create a school choice program, characterized by House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) as the “defining issue of this session.”
Dubbed the “Texas Two Step,” Burrows described the pair of education bills as “historic” and said that the Texas House has “the votes to get it done.”
House Bill (HB) 2 addresses teacher pay raises and public school finance, making significant revisions to existing funding formulas, teacher incentive systems, and administration procedures.
Burrows said the school choice bill, HB 3, will be a “universal” option for Texas families, saying that “it’s historic, and it provides what people have been asking for."
The two chambers’ proposals are largely similar, increasing the chances it will make it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. Texas Scorecard, 20 February 2025
Earlier this month, Abbott reaffirmed school choice as a top priority in his State of the State address. Just days later, the Senate passed Senate Bill 2, its version of the plan. Now, the House has introduced its own proposal, House Bill 3, authored by State Rep. Brad Buckley (R–Salado), who has also been reappointed as chairman of the House Public Education Committee.
While SB 2 and HB 3 share the same goal—creating an Education Savings Account program that allows parents to use state funds for private school tuition, tutoring, and other educational expenses—they differ in a few areas.
Under SB 2, students attending private schools would receive a flat $10,000 per year, while homeschooled students would receive $2,000. Notably, the bill does not impose a cap on overall program costs, allowing funding to grow based on participation.
Meanwhile, HB 3 calculates ESA funding at 85 percent of the state’s per-student public school funding, translating to approximately $8,000–$10,000 per student. Special needs students could receive up to $30,000, a significantly higher amount than what is offered in the Senate plan. However, HB 3 caps the program’s total funding, limiting it to either the amount appropriated in the previous biennium or the cost of serving all eligible students on the waitlist, whichever is greater.
• Texas Legislature Poised To Vote On Cell Phone Ban In Public Schools, Dallas Express, 18 February 2025, Excerpts
A new bill in the Texas Legislature aims to curb cell phone use in public schools by enforcing a statewide ban for students during school hours.
House Bill 515 (HB515), introduced by Republican Rep. Ellen Troxclair, would require students to store personal electronic devices, including cell phones, in secure cases provided by the school district. However, according to Troxclair’s wording, the bill would not apply to school-issued devices.
The proposal aims to address what Troxclair argues are the harmful effects of excessive cell phone use on students’ mental health and academic performance.
• Texas Bills Aim To Reintroduce Ten Commandments And Prayer In Classrooms, Texas Scorecard, 16 February 2025
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick flagged both late last month as among his top 25 priorities for the 89th Legislative Session.
State Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford) filed Senate Bill 10 on Monday. It would require “a public elementary or secondary school” to “display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.”
• With vouchers fast-tracked, other Texas public education issues to watch this session, The Texas Tribune, 11 February 2025
From teacher pay and preparation to special education and DEI, here are issues Texas lawmakers are prioritizing this legislative session.
• School choice, vouchers and the future of Texas education, The Texas Tribune, 23 January 2025
Everything you need to know about what they are and how they might change the state’s educational landscape.,
• Texas Senate Unveils Budget Bill: $1 Billion Boost for School Choice, Dallas Express, 25 January 2025
• Texas Senate’s voucher proposal would give families $10,000 to fund students’ private school, The Texas Tribune, 24 January 2025
Senate Bill 2 starts a new debate on a school voucher program in Texas. A funding proposal would allow up to 100,000 K-12 students who want to enroll to a private school to participate.
• Texas House and Senate Both Allocate $1 Billion for School Choice in Draft Budgets, The Texan, 23 January 2025
• Texas budget writers prioritize school vouchers, teacher raises and border security in early drafts, The Texas Tribune, 22 January 2025
Both chambers set aside $1 billion for a voucher-like education savings account program — double what was on the table two years ago — in a sign that supporters are emboldened after recent electoral gains.
• Legislation Would End Tenure at Texas Public Universities, Texas Scorecard, 20 January 2025
Legislation filed in the Texas House would prohibit public universities from granting tenure or any type of permanent employment status. Valerie Muñoz reports it would not affect those individuals awarded tenure before September 1, 2025.
The measure by State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) would allow those institutions to develop a system of tiered employment status as long as every faculty member undergoes an annual performance evaluation.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has advocated for eliminating tenure since 2022, arguing that tenured leftist professors are poisoning the minds of the next generation and must not be shielded behind claims of “academic freedom.”
No state has yet successfully banned tenure.
• Sen. Cruz, Rep. Hern Introduce School Choice Legislation Prioritizing The Right To A Quality Education For Every Child, Senator Ted Cruz, 20 January 2025
• Lawmaker Proposes Strict In-Person Rules for Higher Education Governing Boards, Texas Scorecard, 10 January 2025
Newly filed legislation would require the governing boards for public higher-education institutions to meet in-person.
State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) filed Senate Bill 724, which would require members of the governing boards of Texas’ higher education institutions to attend at least 75 percent of yearly meetings in-person.
Legislation authored by State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) would require members of the governing boards of Texas’ higher education institutions to attend at least 75 percent of yearly meetings in person.
Comments