Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an $8.5 billion public school funding bill to enhance teacher pay, special and early education programs, and school safety initiatives.
“Now is the time to make Texas No. 1 in educating our children,” Abbott said during Wednesday’s signing ceremony. “House Bill 2 ensures that our schools are funded better than ever, teacher pay and student funding are at all time highs, reading and math performance will improve, and students will be better prepared for the workforce. The foundation is now in place for Texas education to start climbing the ranks.”
About half of the money — $4.2 billion — will go toward teacher and staff pay raises and the expansion of the Teacher Incentive Allotment, Texas’ merit-based pay program.
“This allows more teachers to focus entirely on teaching, without the constant worry of earning a livable wage, and keeps our most effective teachers in the classroom,” Temple ISD teacher JoMeka Gray, who was recently named a finalist for 2025 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year, said Wednesday. “This legislation touches the lives of 5.5 million students enrolled in Texas public schools.”
RELATED: Improving School Safety Starts with Reliable Funding
According to a press release from the governor’s office, the record-setting $8.5 billion funding also includes the following investments:
- $153 million to expand career and technical education opportunities
- $834 million for special education reforms
- $648 million targeted to strategies for improving early literacy and numeracy
- $187 million for teacher preparation and certification programs
- $430 million to increase the school safety allotment
- $1.3 billion for school district operational costs, including insurance, transportation, and utilities
- $199 million to expand the charter school facilities allotment
- $318 million to provide additional funding to small and rural schools
- $296 million for adjustments to the Tier II funding formula, which provides a $55 basic allotment increase per-student
Texas Schools to Receive More Money to Meet Campus Safety Requirements
As part of HB 2, Texas school districts will receive $20 per student and $33,540 for each campus for school safety initiatives — up from the current allocation of $10 per student and $15,000 per campus, according to Texas Tribune.
The additional funding will go toward helping districts meet safety mandates put in place following the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, including House Bill 3, which requires each school to have an armed security officer. Shortly after the $330 million bill was approved in 2023, many districts reported having difficulty hiring more police officers, particularly for elementary schools. The two main reasons cited were a nationwide law enforcement shortage and inadequate funding provided by the new law.
RELATED: Texas May Boost Funding for School Security Under HB 3
Many experts called the law an “unfunded mandate,” noting $15,000 isn’t nearly enough to pay for an armed officer. For example, Northside Independent School District (NISD) spent $1.6 million last year when it added 20 more police officers and rehired 13 retired officers. Despite the expenditures, NISD reported having 40 vacant positions and gaps in coverage. Ector County ISD also reported it would need to spend more than $4 million to comply with HB 3 but that it was only allocated $650,000.
In 2024, Manor ISD Superintendent Dr. Robert Sormani said his district had to make sacrifices in other areas to comply with HB 3, like choosing not to open a new elementary school and reducing air conditioning maintenance costs.
“It’s not like these dollars come out of the air – they have to come from somewhere,” he said. “So, ultimately, we’re going to have to make decisions on what we’re doing to do in the classroom, what we’re going to do for staff salaries, what we’re going to do for facilities.”
