Midland Reporter-Telegram

by Mella McEwen

Since the end of the Texas Legislative session, state leaders have been touring the state to offer their assessment of legislation that was passed and what legislation failed.

Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, offered his assessment Thursday at a luncheon presented by the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association and the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

Asked what legislation passed during the session would be most meaningful to West Texas, Burrows replied: “Education.”

“School finance, discipline, this will let school districts make long-term strategic investments,” he said.

Legislators approved a bill providing $8.5 billion in new funding, which Burrows said marks the largest one-time public education investment in state history. The bill provides funding for teacher pay raises. He noted legislators prescribed how much those raises should be to ensure the fundings went to the teachers. Legislators also passed a legislative package reforming school discipline, allowing schools to place students in in-school suspension for as long as they see appropriate.

Burrows told his audience legislators performed their one constitutionally mandated duty: Passing a state budget. That $338 billion budget came in below the spending limit, he said.

“We’re living within our means. We’re not spending all the funds available so we have some in reserve so that during tough times we don’t have to talk about raising taxes or finding other revenue sources,” he said.

Of that $338 billion, $51 billion is earmarked for maintaining, lowering or further reducing property taxes, he said. That includes raising the homestead exemption to $140,000 and the homestead exemption for senior Texans to $200,000. Burrows said that means some 60% of senior Texans won’t have to pay property taxes for school operations funding. That could make Texas a retirement magnet for seniors across the country.

The property tax legislation will be among 17 constitutional amendments Texas voters will consider in November. Another amendment, critical to arid West Texas, will allot $1 billion a year starting in 2027 — $20 billion in total — to fund new water supply projects and secure the state’s water supply.

Midland Mayor Lori Blong asked Burrows how those water development funds would be allocated. He assured her the legislation was written to ensure funding went to various parts of the state “other than Harris County.”

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