Texas has $27 billion or more in surplus funds this year. The question is how will the legislature, controlled by Republicans, spend that money? Governor Abbott says he wants to spend half of it giving a property tax cut (which will mainly benefit the richest Texans).The Houston Chronicle's editorial board has some better suggestions. Here is part of what they wrote:
Lawmakers could start with increasing the base amount of money that public schools get per student, which has remained stagnant at $6,160 since 2019. State employees haven't received a raise in seven years. Retired teachers could get another one-time check to offset cost-of-living increases, or better yet, an actual cost-of-living raise to their pension checks for the first time in 19 years. The surplus could be used to pay down the state Employees Retirement System's nearly $15 billion in unfunded pension liabilityPublic university systems are asking for $1 billion to stave off tuition increases. Big-city mayors in Texas, including Houston's Sylvester Turner, are making the case for increased funding for mental health services. While billions in federal fundswill certainly help address our roads and bridges and other infrastructure, the state can supplementthat by putting even more money toward speeding up implementation of rural broadband internet access and upgrading aging water pipelines. On the criminal justice side, pay raises for Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff are long overdue, as evidenced by Texas' dangerously understaffed prisons, and the agency has repeatedly requested the Legislature to provide funds to install air-conditioning units in its prisons. The state's broken foster care system is also in dire need of funding, particularly toward boosting rates for care providers in the legacy system.
