“Today, the Texas House and Senate made history with the agreement to modernize and improve the state's school finance system, and I want to applaud all of the Members and Senators who worked tirelessly to craft legislation that puts more money into classrooms, gives every Texas teacher a raise, improves the STAAR test, and provides significant property tax relief.”

“I look forward to working with all 19 school districts in Senate District 4 to ensure that the plan implementation is smooth, and teachers are getting the resources they need. This system has only been reformed 3 times in the 84 years, and these major reforms will benefit all Texas schools, families and businesses. I look forward to supporting this historic bill on final passage in the Senate.”

The bill, House Bill 3, in linked to Senate Bill 2, the principal property tax relief bill of the session which Senator Creighton is an author and chief negotiator.

The Texas School Finance Plan Includes:

• Up to a $4,000.00 raise for all Texas teachers
• Puts more money into classrooms
• Adopts programs to ensure Texas 3rd graders are reading at grade level
• Improvements to the STAAR exams
• $3.6 billion reduction of recapture/ Robin Hood
• $5 billion for property tax relief, which will increase annually
• $4.5 billion for public education reform, putting more money into classrooms

###