Texas House Democrats announced Thursday a $14.5 billion plan to improve public education in Texas by paying teachers and other school staff more, bolstering school safety and offering full-day prekindergarten, among other measures.

Several bills — some filed and others still being drafted — will comprise the so-called Texas Kids First Plan, which also would increase per-student funding and lower the amount property-wealthy districts, such as the Austin district, pay to the state to support property-poor districts.

Republican leaders are expected to offer their own omnibus public education bill, which is expected to spend far less than the Democratic plan.

By offering their ideas first, Democrats hope to influence the public education agenda in the GOP-dominated Legislature.

"The Democratic caucus' $14.5 billion plan is bold, proud and visionary and it is a solid first step," said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, former president of the Austin school board, at a news conference Thursday. "It gets us about halfway to where we need to be for adequate funding, but we can't look at the biggest and most important investment we make in this state as a one-time fix."

The cornerstone of the Democrats' plan is to extend prekindergarten from half to full day, which would cost $1.6 billion over the next two years. In 2017, lawmakers axed a $118 million pre-K grant program that Gov. Greg Abbott had promoted.

Hinojosa called full-day pre-K "a bargain for the promised returns."

Cutting property taxes

In addition to the $14.5 billion in education spending over two years, the Democrats' plan also includes $1.7 billion to double the school homestead exemption. Homeowners eligible for a homestead exemption for their primary residence currently can reduce the home's taxable value by $25,000.

The average tax savings for a homeowner would be about $325 annually, according to the Democrats.

"We believe that the homestead exemption simply has not kept up with the increased valuation in Texas, period," said Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie. "It doesn't take other ideas off the table."

Republicans' property tax relief plan — Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2 — would require the taxing districts with $15 million or more in combined property and sales tax revenues to obtain voter approval for property tax increases that lead to collections more than 2.5 percent higher than those in the previous year, not including new property on the appraisal rolls.

Democrats and some Republicans are lukewarm to the tax cap because they fear it would force cities and counties to cut budgets and services. Schools' local property tax revenue would be capped at 2.5 percent under the GOP plan but the state must pony up the money to make up the loss in revenue.

The Democrats' school finance plan costs more than what the House and Senate budgets anticipate setting aside for public education over the next two years. The House budget proposal calls for an increase of $7.1 billion in discretionary funding for public education; the Senate proposal calls for a $4.3 billion increase.

Democrats did not identify a specific funding source to pay for their plan's larger price tag but recommended that state officials comb through the tax code to find loopholes and tax breaks that are no longer needed.

Employee raises



The Senate’s budget proposal includes $3.7 billion to give all classroom teachers a $5,000 raise, included in SB 3.

No teacher pay bill has been filed in the House, but House Democrats envision giving teachers and other educational professionals, including bus drivers and custodians, a salary increase. It's not clear yet what the raise amount would be, and it could be based on a percentage of an employee's pay. Unlike SB 3, the Democrats’ plan gives districts enough money to cover increased contributions to the state's pension system as a result of the pay raise. Districts must pay a percentage of current teachers' salaries to help fund the Teacher Retirement System's pension system.

The Democrats’ education plan does not include provisions tying school funding and teacher pay to student performance on state standardized tests — something that could appear in the school finance bill that Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, House Public Education Committee chairman, is drafting.

Huberty declined to comment on the Democrat's plan or the status of the bill that he's drafting.

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, said in a statement: “From day one, I have made it explicitly clear that all members — regardless of chamber or party — must work together in order to successfully pass a meaningful solution to school finance. When it comes to educating our children, there is no Republican or Democrat plan. There is only a Texas plan. Partisan division has prevented the Legislature from accomplishing school finance reform in sessions past, and I fully expect all members to stand united behind Chairman Huberty and the Public Education Committee as they introduce school finance legislation in the weeks to come.”