(By LARA LA TOUF)

Freshman state senators are ready to tackle one of the most important issues to Texas voters — education.

State Sens. Carol Alvarado, Pete Flores, Nathan Johnson, and Beverly Powell sat down with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith in Austin recently to discuss the prospects of education reform during the 86th Legislature.

Sen. Powell, D-Fort Worth, wants to focus on the issues that exist in the everyday lives of voters.

“Our school finance system is broken,” Powell said. “It’s causing our property taxation problems to soar out of control.”

The Texas House and Senate both unveiled budget proposals for the session on Jan. 15. However, there was a $2.7 billion gap between chambers over how much should be spent on public education.

Although encouraged by the latest proposed increase, Sen. Powell wanted to see more being done, questioning whether it is enough to not only increase teacher pay but also fund classrooms around Texas.

However, Sen. Pete Flores of Pleasanton, the only Republican on the panel, agreed with the idea of increasing public education funding, but only if it was done efficiently and measurably.

In his State of the State address Feb. 5, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for improvements to school finance and safety. Abbott praised the current bipartisan and bicameral support for education improvement.

These remarks have left senators like Alvarado, D-Houston, confident for bipartisan support for the education legislation that is currently out there.

“Were talking about educating kids,” Alvarado said. “No one cares if you’re a Democrat or a Republican on these issues.”

Sen. Johnson, D-Dallas, had a different approach to what education reform means to voters. Johnson said that if legislators are unable to make headway in these issues then the consequences will be seen at the polls in 2020.

“The stakes are higher, so I think the chances of getting it done are much better,” Johnson said.

He believes this has already been indicated by the results of the last election. In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats flipped 13 state House seats and went on to pick up two state Senate seats.

The conversation then focused on the proposal of using a portion of Texas’ Economic Stabilization Fund, more commonly known as the “Rainy Day Fund,” to cover school safety and shore up teachers’ pensions.

“We do have a crisis on our hands,” Sen. Alvarado said. “I think it’s very appropriate that we use those funds for that.”

All senators present agreed that they were open to the idea of either investing or dipping into the fund to cover these growing costs. While it is not clear if this response among freshman senators is representative of the Senate as a whole, it appears to indicate the possibility of bipartisan support.

In addition to school finance and safety, the Legislature has put property tax reform and combating human trafficking at the forefront of this session. The 86th Legislature opened Jan. 8 and will run until May 27. For more information about the Senate agenda click here.