How Texas schools grapple with budget deficits after Legislature punts major funding

The year will end in disappointment for many school administrators who watched a roller coaster of Texas legislative sessions end with lawmakers not passing an omnibus school funding package that districts had hoped would bolster their ailing budgets.

Increased pandemic operating costs, demands for higher pay and crippling inflation have left many districts pinching pennies. Without a serious influx of state money, many school administrators said they’ll have to make tough decisions about staff and programming next year.

Despite widespread calls from superintendents, teachers and parents for a boost in school funding, the billions in education spending many lawmakers proposed during the regular legislative session and subsequent special sessions became entangled in a heated debate about school choice, also known as education savings accounts or vouchers.