LESC staff walk lawmakers through 2026 education budget: $4.575B for SEG, $35M for CTE, $15.3M for tutoring

Daniel, who covers public school finance for the Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC), opened the committee’s briefing by walking members through how to read the 2026 General Appropriation Act and the staff post‑session review.

The presentation focused on where recurring and nonrecurring education appropriations appear in House Bill 2 and the post‑session review, and how to interpret the five funding columns. Daniel said the bill’s public school support subsection appropriates roughly $4,575,000,000 to the State Equalization Guarantee (SEG) for fiscal year 2027, including a small driver’s‑license fee line. “You all appropriated, almost $4,600,000,000 to the SEG, for FY27… for a total appropriation in House Bill 2 to the SEG 4,575,000,000,” he said.

Staff explained that the SEG is a distribution mechanism that sends legislative appropriations to school districts and charter schools based on the public school funding formula; it does not itself generate new revenue. Daniel also flagged that compensation increases this session…