The below information was posted on April 28, 2021.

In recent weeks, the Texas House and Senate have each passed separate state budget plans for the next two years. Representatives from each chamber will now meet in a conference committee to write a final budget that the full House and Senate can approve before the Legislature adjourns May 31.

Both the House and Senate approved budgets that maintain the increase in funding for public education and property-tax compression approved as part of House Bill 3, the major school finance reform legislation approved in 2019. However, the budgets do not address when or whether the state will distribute nearly $18 billion in federal funding for Texas schools that the U.S. Congress included in COVID-19 relief legislation approved in December 2020 and March 2021. State leaders have said they are seeking guidance from the federal government about possible conditions that might be tied to the distribution of those funds.