Finance committee backs substitute to double school safety allotments; witnesses urge mental‑health guardrails

Chair Huffman recognized the bill sponsor and committee substitute for Senate Bill 260, a proposal to increase school safety funding established in recent legislation.

Chair Huffman explained the committee substitute, saying the 2023 legislature committed $1.4 billion in new school safety funding and that the substitute “would significantly increase both the per student and per campus school safety allotments, which costs roughly $500,000,000 for the biennium.” He told members the per‑student allotment “would increase from $10 for each student and average daily attendance to $28” and the per‑campus allotment “from 15,000 to 30,000.” He described the change as “another investment in the legislation.”

The nut graf: the substitute seeks to add approximately $500 million over the biennium to increase per‑student and per‑campus school safety allotments; witnesses at the committee hearing supported larger investment but many urged statutory guardrails or a separate mental‑health allotment so funds are not spent primarily on physical hardening.

During committee Q&A, senators pressed how the figures were derived and whether the funds would be restricted to school‑safety uses. Chair Huffman and the sponsor said the increased allotment is intended for safety measures and indicated “yes” when asked whether funds were to be spent on school safety rather than general purposes; a committee member asked for confirmation that districts could not simply divert the money to unrelated general‑purpose uses and was told the allotment is intended for safety expenditures.

Public testimony included school trustees, mental‑health advocates, Disability Rights Texas, the Texas Parent Teacher Association and the Texas State Teachers Association. Jean Mayer, Pflugerville ISD trustee, testified that even with the proposed increase some districts may still face large per‑student shortfalls: “Senate Bill 260 proposes increasing the per student safety allotment from 10 to $20 which is a step in the right direction. However, actual cost per student is a hundred and 28 annually to fully implement those mandates.” Rebecca Fowler of the Texas Coalition for Healthy Minds urged aligning allowable uses with statute or creating a dedicated mental‑health allotment to avoid disproportionate spending on physical security. Maya Volk of Disability Rights Texas noted that only 1.4% of the current school safety allotment was used for psychological safety in the most recent spending report and recommended a separate mental‑health allotment.

Chair Huffman closed public testimony and moved the committee substitute; the clerk called the roll and the committee reported SB 260 with the committee substitute adopted, recommending it to the full Senate to be printed. The clerk recorded 12 ayes, no nays.

Ending: SB 260 as substituted advanced to the full Senate; witnesses urged the Legislature to add statutory limits or a separate mental‑health allotment and several speakers called out continuing cost shortfalls for districts to fully comply with mandated security requirements.