Today, I testified at the first Senate Finance Committee hearing of the session. Below is a summary of what I shared with committee members: Last session, $5.3 billion was cut
Today, the Senate Finance committee kicked off public hearings on Senate Bill 1, the proposed state budget for 2014 and 2015. At $89 billion in General Revenue, the Senate’s starting
This weekend, Eva’s piece ran in the Austin American-Statesman’s Legislative Preview series: We believe in Texas. We believe in the people of Texas. We know it’s hard for families, especially
On the face of it, “school choice” sounds like an intriguing concept. But, a key component of the school choice proposal presented by Senate leadership, which purports to allow for
Health Care Protecting and improving Texas Medicaid and CHIP will help ensure access to a decent standard of health care for millions of low-income Texas seniors, children, and families who
Almost 1.5 million students were enrolled in credit courses at a Texas college or university in Fall 2011—more than 9 out of 10 of them at a public institution. Public
Public education is important in the Texas budget not just because it’s the biggest piece (42 percent of General Revenue spending), but because of its key role in preparing roughly
By Andrea Mayo In 2011, nine percent of Texas teenagers age 16 to 19 were neither in school nor in the workforce. Unless Texas takes action, these young people will
By Mia Ibarra TexasForward, a broad-based revenue coalition promoting a balanced approach to state budget decisions, held its quarterly membership meeting on Friday, October 26. Representatives from many of the
By Chandra Villanueva Texas is responsible for educating 5 million kids, and 60 percent of those kids are poor. We have an obligation to ensure that every child succeeds in
