January 19, 2017      11:55 AM
Details on some big-ticket items absent from budget proposals
Budget brinksmanship begins early with some fundamentally different visions and questions about the future of school finance, CPS, and more
The initial House
and Senate
budget documents are perhaps better noted by what they don’t say within their
pages rather than what budget writers have put down on paper.
The two documents were released within hours of each other,
even before Speaker of the House Joe Straus has named his new Appropriations
Committee chair. The House touts a pro-child budget, putting money into
public education, behavioral health and foster care fixes. The top line on that
budget suggests the lower chamber may be willing to tap the Rainy
Day Fund.
The upper chamber’s budget, unveiled by Finance Chair Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, proposes
some smaller ticket spending items for education, provides small bumps for
pre-kindergarten and graduate medical education and dedicates funding to cut
wait lists for community mental health care services. The Senate budget also
suggests a 1.5 percent across-the-board cut for state agencies and declines to
tap the Economic Stabilization Fund.
By Kimberly Reeves
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