The Texas Senate Finance Committee held its first hearing of the new session this week, and things got off to an unusual start when the subject of school funding was broached.
Republican Chairwoman Jane Nelson appointed state Sen. Larry Taylor to lead the education group, then promptly directed Taylor to forget existing school finance law. Instead, Nelson said Taylor should propose an entirely new system of funding public schools in Texas.
“Start with a clean state,” Nelson said, “and look at how to fix the system.”
As The Austin American-Statesman reports,in October Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he didn’t think the school finance system could be rewritten without Gov. Greg Abbott calling a special legislative session.
Texas consistently ranks toward the bottom of states when it comes to per-student spending.