Senate Finance Committee Considers Higher Ed Budget February 6th, 7th, and 8th
Senate Finance Committee
The Senate Finance Committee has commenced a full set of hearings to consider the state budget. These are framing hearings, with invited testimony from the Legislative Budget Board, state agencies, and affected stakeholders. Public testimony will also be taken, but will be limited to 2 minutes.
Article III of the budget, including both public and higher education, is currently posted for February 6th, 7th, and 8th. For full agendas, visit https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/MeetingsUpcoming.aspx?Chamber=S. The timing of the hearings may change due to cancellations caused by inclement weather in Austin this week.
The big buzz in Austin this session is the substantial overall budget surplus available to the legislature, now estimated at almost $33 billion. Legislators are discussing budget increases for both community colleges and four-year institutions. Community colleges are requesting $600 million in additional funding to apply to the finance reform being drafted on the recommendation of the Commission on Community College Finance. Four-year institutions may receive an addition of $1 billion to formula funding to allow for tuition freezes. Other proposals include escalators for both enrollment growth and inflation.
What You Can Do
Though these hearings are preliminary, you can stay informed in the process and help position higher education for the substantive negotiations to come by doing the following:
- View the committee hearings to get a feel for both the proposed budgets and the feelings of individual legislators on the value of higher education. Hearings will be broadcast online at https://capitol.texas.gov under the Video Broadcast tab, and may be watched either live or as archived broadcasts.
- Contact members of the Senate Finance Committee in your area to recommend robust financial support for higher education. Members are listed below:
- Senator Joan Huffman, Chair, District 17, Lake Jackson
- Senator Juan Hinojosa, Vice Chair, District 20, Corpus Christi
- Senator Paul Bettencourt, District 7, Houston
- Senator Donna Campbell, District 25, New Braunfels
- Senator Brandon Creighton, District 4, The Woodlands
- Senator Pete Flores, District 24, Medina
- Senator Bob Hall, District 2, Rockwall
- Senator Kelly Hancock, District 9, Fort Worth
- Senator Bryan Hughes, District 1, Marshall
- Senator Lois Kolkhorst, District 18, Brenham
- Senator Robert Nichols, District 3, Jacksonville
- Senator Angela Paxton, District 8, Allen
- Senator Charles Perry, District 28, Lubbock
- Senator Charles Schwertner, District 5, Georgetown
- Senator Royce West, District 23, Dallas
- Senator John Whitmire, District 15, Houston
- Senator Judith Zaffirini, District 21, Laredo
- Inform your fellow faculty of the real time proceedings in Austin, and encourage them to participate with you both in informing themselves and joining your organization.
We will be doing the same on the House side once the House Appropriations Committee is officially appointed and begins its hearings. The work we do to inform our colleagues now will yield ongoing benefits during the session. The more eyes we have on the process, and the more organized we are, the better our chances of affecting budget decisions.