Texas State Rep. Dan Huberty suggests school districts "squirrel away" money for next year to prepare for COVID-19's possible impact. | Facebook
A Texas State representative, who last year filed a bill transforming school finance, is urging school districts to save money for later use because the impact COVID-19 will have on next year’s funding is unknown, even as the state faces a recession.
State Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Humble) told the Houston Chronicle that school districts would be wise “to squirrel away some money” as districts’ 2020-2021 budgets are finalized for approval this summer.
“Talking to superintendents, my message to everybody is let’s get through this year, let’s get to summer time and next session we’ll need to watch things very closely,” Huberty said to the Houston Chronicle.
Huberty was chairman of the House Public Education Committee when he filed on March 5, 2019, House Bill 3 to transform school finance in Texas, according to the Texas House of Representatives. HB 3, passed in 2019 by the 86th Texas Legislature, cuts local property taxes and provides more money for classrooms, among other benefits, according to the Texas Education Agency.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts will give in June an updated economic forecast.
But in a March 31 Facebook post, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts said the coronavirus was “reshaping the economic landscape of our state.”
Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s Fiscal Notes said that the closings due to the coronavirus will impact Texas’ economy and government.
“… But it’s too early to say definitively what the effects will be. The Comptroller’s office will be monitoring the situation closely,” the Fiscal Notes said.
The effects of the coronavirus and the collapse in oil prices may have economic impacts, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott closed schools to in-person classroom attendance through the academic year in his April 17 Executive Order GA-16. But the order stated that public education teachers and staff may conduct remote video instruction from the schools.
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