Last week, I called Senator Hinojosa's office twice about education funding. Once, before the vote, to ask him to either fix Senate Bill One, the budget bill, to return more than a mere 28% of the over 5 billion (that's a B, yes, for Billion) in cuts made to education last Session or to vote No on the bill. I called again, after the vote, to voice my extreme displeasure that he did neither. Senator Hinojosa, unlike the Republicans in the Lege, does believe in public education and does want it to be well-funded, but he was not willing to hold up the budget with a No vote when there are other opportunities to restore more funding later in the process. I think he was wrong.
SB1 passed with only two no votes - those of Senator Wendy Davis, Democrat from Fort Worth and Senator Sylvia Garcia, Democrat of Houston. Senator Davis and Senator Garcia both felt that public education in Texas was important enough that no budget should pass that did not fully restore its funding. They kind of rock that way.
A day later, the House Appropriations Committee voted to add another 1 billion in funding (still a net return of slightly less than half of the cuts) and the Committee Chair, Representative Pitts, Republican from Waxahachie, said he plans to add $500 million in a supplemental spending bill for this fiscal year (though this kind of bill is really hard to pass, technically).
(Imagine the House caring more than the Senate - weird.)
Debate and votes on the House budget should occur on April 4th - call your state representatives, mamas!
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