School funding, teacher salary increases essentially dead in regular session

While Sunday is the official deadline for the House to consider conference committee reports (bills that had to be negotiated between the House and Senate), midnight Saturday marked the deadline for distributing such reports to the members. With no last-minute agreement on HB 100, to which the Senate had added a voucher/education savings account plan, that bill is considered dead for the session.

Although the budget agreement includes provisions for school funding and teacher pay, the funding is dependent on passage of other legislation - HB 100. Gov. Abbott and Senate leadership have effectively held this funding hostage in an attempt to implement a voucher plan in Texas; the House has so far refused to accept any voucher proposal.

There are already rumors of a special session being called shortly after the regular one ends Monday to address not only the voucher issue but other unresolved priority items such as property tax relief and border security.