AISD outlines how competing House and Senate K‑12 bills would affect district funding, vouchers and program priorities

Edna Butts, Austin Independent School District’s legislative liaison, briefed the joint subcommittee on March 3 about competing House and Senate proposals for K‑12 funding and a suite of education bills under active consideration at the Capitol.

Butts said both HB1 and SB1 include new statewide education funding—each version identifies roughly $5.25 billion in new money and sets aside $1 billion for education savings accounts (universal vouchers). But the House and Senate differ on how to allocate other funds that would be distributed from a roughly $4.85 billion pool.

Butts outlined the key differences she highlighted: Senate proposals discussed by staff (including a referenced Senate bill 26) would hold school districts harmless for property tax cuts and focus some increases on teacher pay with district‑size tiers for raises. The House approach (presented as House Bill 2) would raise the basic allotment…