88 days remain in the 140-day 87th Regular Legislative Session.

Governor Greg Abbott has made some pretty big announcements just about every day this week, and today is no exception. Today, state leaders announced the extension of the funding hold harmless through the end of the school year. This long-awaited announcement came in the third month of the period to which it applies.

The chart below this explanation was included in the TEA Attendance & Enrollment FAQ document to spell out the specifics of the extension. Commissioner Morath explained that the rules surrounding this extension place an emphasis on on-campus instruction. Therefore, average campus attendance participation rates during the sixth 6-weeks must be either at least 80% or at least as high as the percentage reported by your district in the October 30 PEIMS Snapshot. That means that if your on campus attendance is 80% or higher, you're eligible for the funds. Or if your on campus attendance is the same or better during the sixth 6-weeks as it was in the fall, you are also eligible for funds (for your rate see the Fall PEIMS On-Campus Attendance Participation).

This extension also includes an acknowledgment that comp ed was left out before. TEA will use the better of 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 compensatory education counts for determining the compensatory education allotment under new law. This will not affect the calculation of old-law revenue for the purpose of formula transition grant funding. 

Finally, it remains unclear what the method of finance will be for this hold harmless extension. Question #7 on page 43 of the FAQ states that "The agency will work with the legislature to ensure funding to districts for the various hold harmless. Those funding amounts may be through the foundation school program, federal funds, or a combination." That means that it is undecided at this time whether state funds, or some portion of the federal stimulus dollars for schools, will be used to pay for the extension.

We were happy to have so many of you join us for the membership update on Wednesday afternoon. As promised, there are several options for you to use to catch up on anything you missed. You can visit the March Update on the 87th Legislative Session page in the Members Area of our website to download the PowerPoint slides (which you are welcome to use in your district in whole or in part) or a PDF of the presentation. You can also watch the video below to see an abridged version of the presentation delivered during yesterday's meeting.

The Texas House and Texas Senate both stand adjourned until Tuesday, March 9 at 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., respectively.

The House Ways & Means Committee will meet on Monday, March 8, at 10:00 a.m. to hear six bills, relating to topics such as certain property tax exemptions, accrual of interest on deferrals or abatements of property taxes on certain residences, and the authority to bring suit to compel an appraiser to comply with procedural requirements applicable in a tax protest.

The Senate Local Government Committee will meet on Monday, March 8, at 1:30 p.m. to conduct an organizational hearing.

At the time this update was written, neither of the Committees overseeing public education had posted hearings.

Additionally, the Senate Finance Committee and House Appropriations Committee will both continue on their work of reviewing each article and agency in the proposed budget bills. Senate Finance workgroups per article have not yet been named.