Charles Butt, Joe Straus call for state to release $18B in federal funds to schools
Skirting subtlety, education advocates installed a 6-foot tall, three-legged stool in the basement of the Texas Capitol on Tuesday as a message to legislators to fully fund schools by releasing billions in federal stimulus dollars to districts.
Two San Antonians, H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt and former House Speaker Joe Straus, are among the advocates urging Gov. Greg Abbott and state legislators to send almost $18 billion from the second and third rounds of federal stimulus funds to Texas school districts. At least 38 states have initiated the process to distribute the federal funds to schools, according to public education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas (RYHT).
The three-legged stool RYHT installed at the Capitol represents three key funding streams the group says schools need to withstand and recover from the pandemic: the increased school funding created by the 2019 school finance reform law, all funds normally designated for school districts without penalties for pandemic-related enrollment declines, and the $17.9 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds intended to reimburse schools for pandemic-related expenses and learning loss initiatives. RYHT also delivered miniature three-legged stools with one missing leg to all legislators.
In letters to Abbott and Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Butt wrote that the federal dollars are “badly needed” by students to address learning loss resulting from the pandemic and that using the money to plug other budget shortfalls would be “extremely disappointing and a real disservice to our students.”
Read more: https://sanantonioreport.org/charles-butt-joe-straus-school-funding/
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