AUSTIN – The Texas Commission on Public School Finance will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m. in Room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building, 1701 North Congress, in Austin.

Created in 2017 during a special session of the 85th Texas Legislature, the 13-member Commission was established to develop and make recommendations for improvements to the current public school finance system or for new methods of financing public schools. The Commission will develop recommendations related to:

• The purpose of the public school finance system and the relationship between state and local funding in that system;
• The appropriate levels of taxes for local maintenance and operations, plus interest and sinking funds, necessary to implement a public school finance system that complies with the requirements under the Texas Constitution; and
• Policy changes to the public school finance system necessary to adjust for student demographics and the geographic diversity in the state.

The 13 commission members were appointed by the Governor (four members), Lt. Governor (four members) and Speaker of the House (four members), with one member appointed by the State Board of Education. Commission members include:

• Justice Scott Brister (Commission Chair), Georgetown – Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas (Appointed by the Governor)
• Rep. Diego Bernal, San Antonio – Vice Chair of the House Committee on Public Education (Appointed by the Speaker)
• Sen. Paul Bettencourt, Houston – Member of the Senate Committee on Education (Appointed by the Lt. Governor)
• Dr. Keven Ellis, Lufkin – State Board of Education Member, District 9 (Appointed by the State Board of Education)
• Rep. Dan Huberty, Houston – Chair of the House Committee on Public Education (Appointed by the Speaker)
• Nicole Conley Johnson, Austin – Austin Independent School District Chief Financial Officer (Appointed by the Speaker)
• Rep. Ken King, Canadian – Member of the House Committee on Public Education (Appointed by the Speaker)
• Dr. Doug Killian, Pflugerville – Pflugerville Independent School District Superintendent (Appointed by the Lt. Governor)
• Melissa Martin, Deer Park – Galena Park Independent School District Career and Technology Teacher (Appointed by the Governor)
• Rep. Elvira Reyna, Denton County – Former State Representative for District 101 (Appointed by the Governor)
• Sen. Larry Taylor, Friendswood – Chair of the Senate Committee on Education (Appointed by the Lt. Governor)
• Sen. Royce West, Dallas – Member of the Senate Committee on Education (Appointed by the Lt. Governor)
• Todd Williams, Dallas – The Commit Partnership founding Chairman and Executive Director (Appointed by the Governor)

Following a series of scheduled meetings in 2018, the Commission will prepare a report of recommendations to be delivered to the Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker and members of the Legislature. The report must be delivered by Dec. 31, 2018.

Meetings of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance will be livestreamed at http://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea.

To learn more about the Texas Commission on Public School Finance (including meeting schedule, agendas and supporting materials), visit the Texas Education Agency website at https://tea.texas.gov/schoolfinancecommission. 

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