The Texas Senate’s State Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Robert Duncan, Republican of Lubbock, is taking a new look at how to engineer cost savings in state-financed health-care programs. These include the state-run Teacher Retirement System’s programs for active and retired school employees and the Employees Retirement System’s plan for employees in higher education and at state agencies. Read More
Read MoreThe state’s Joint Select Committee on School Finance, Weights, Allotments and Adjustments met today with a roster of invited business and academic witnesses chosen to support a specific agenda. Their testimony and responses from several committee members (Sens. Florence Shapiro, Republican of Plano, Sen. Dan Patrick, Republican of Houston, and Rep. Rob Eissler, Republican of The Woodlands) yielded a familiar...
Read MoreTraditionally ahead of the biennial legislative session the staffs of the Legislative Budget Board and the governor’s budget office get together to review spending requests from state agencies. This year agencies have been directed by the governor and legislative leaders to chop 10 percent from their already lean baseline budget requests. Here’s what Texas AFT’s Ted Melina Raab had to...
Read MoreFive Democratic state senators have asked Gov. Rick Perry to renew efforts to secure $830 million in aid earmarked for Texas public schools under the recent emergency education-jobs bill passed by Congress. In a letter delivered to the governor today, Sens. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, Rodney Ellis of Houston, Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, Mario Gallegos of Houston,...
Read MoreSome noteworthy hearings in the next couple of weeks will preview issues sure to preoccupy lawmakers when the legislature meets for its next regular session in January. For example: September 14–The state’s budget for public education for 2012-2013 comes up for a public hearing next Tuesday in front of staffers of the Legislative Budget Board and Governor’s Budget Office. These...
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