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Good morning,

We have a bonus episode of REAL TEXANS out this morning. You'll find that link below.

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

NEW FEATURE: Important Dates

• Under the "tools" menu of the Texas Scorecard website is a new countdown page for the important dates in this current legislative session. The page also includes a printable cheat sheet you can use to monitor the prospects of legislation you're following.

Senate Committee Recommends $6 Billion in Property Tax Relief

• Yesterday, the Texas Senate's Local Government Committee unanimously approved approximately $6 billion in new property tax relief. Luca Cacciatore reports the legislation now goes to the full chamber for consideration.
     
• Senate Bill 4, authored by Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), would provide roughly $3 billion in relief by increasing the homestead exemption to $140,000. Senior citizens and individuals with disabilities would have their exemption raised to $150,000.
         
• The measure provides an additional $3 billion in relief through tax rate compression, buying down the average school property tax rate from $0.9766 to $0.9086.
       
• Gov. Greg Abbott endorsed $10 billion in property tax relief during his State of the State Address earlier this month.
       
• The Texas House has yet to organize itself for legislative business, let alone consider property tax relief.

Related News

• In Fiscal Year 2022, property taxes accounted for 47.5 percent of total state-local tax revenue. In FY 2023, the percentage decreased slightly to 46.1 percent. Property tax revenues, though, increased from $80.8 billion to $81.4 billion.
        
• School districts impose approximately 50 percent of the overall property tax burden.
        
• “Despite the Legislature’s best attempts to lower taxes and limit increases, local property taxes continue their relentless march upwards,” said James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “This unceasing growth strongly suggests the need for strong, new taxpayer protections, like requiring supermajority approval from voters to win a tax increase election.”

160 Texas Teachers Under Investigation for Cheating on Certification Exam

• Joseph Trimmer reports that the Texas Education Agency is now investigating 160 teachers for allegedly cheating on their certification exams.
     
• Harris County prosecutors have charged five individuals with orchestrating the scheme that enabled people to fraudulently obtain teaching certifications by using a proxy to take their tests. Investigators had noticed a pattern of people around the state failing the exam, then retaking the exam in Houston and passing with flying colors.
       
• Vincent Grayson, a former basketball coach at Houston ISD’s Booker T. Washington High School, allegedly masterminded the cheating scheme. Investigators estimate it generated more than $1 million in illicit profits and the certification of more than 200 people.
      
• Teachers with fraudulent certifications have since been placed in classrooms all over Texas. The TEA has notified the respective school districts of the ongoing investigations.

Related News

• In January, a different teacher was arrested for sexually assaulting a student.
       
• As a small Central Texas district with less than 500 students, Bartlett ISD seems to have a major problem.

Lawmaker Proposes Abolishing State Education Bureaucracy

• While President Donald Trump is potentially set to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a state lawmaker is looking to take similar action at the state level—proposing the elimination of the Texas Education Agency and shifting its responsibilities to the elected State Board of Education. Brandon Waltens has the story.
      
• State Rep. Andy Hopper (R–Decatur) wants to abolish the TEA, citing concerns over inefficiency, bureaucratic bloat, and a lack of meaningful results for Texas students. If passed, the legislation would transfer the TEA’s powers, duties, and oversight responsibilities to the elected members of the State Board of Education.
     
• The TEA, created in 1949, currently oversees more than 1,200 independent school districts and numerous charter schools. It is headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor.
       
• Meanwhile, the State Board of Education is composed of elected officials from 15 districts across Texas. The board is currently responsible for setting curriculum standards, reviewing and adopting instructional materials, and establishing graduation requirements.

Tren de Aragua Member Captured In San Antonio

• A member of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua has been captured in San Antonio. Will Biagini has the story.
        
• The unnamed male gang member, 27, was arrested through a collaboration between multiple law enforcement agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
       
• ICE is continuing to round up violent criminals and gang members around Texas. Earlier this month, the agency arrested an illegal alien from Mexico with a violent criminal history and three previous deportations.

Texas Commission on Jail Standards Wants A.G. Action in Harris County

• The Texas Commission for Jail Standards has formally asked the attorney general’s office to intervene with the Harris County Jail and force compliance with state rules. Harris County's jail has been out of compliance with state standards since September 2022.
     

• Since that time, 55 inmates have died—and the jail has received two more notices of noncompliance.

       
• Currently, the Harris County Jail houses 9,806 inmates—including 1,258 alien inmates with active ICE holds.

Quote-Unquote

"If a tax cut increases government revenue, you haven't cut taxes enough."

– Milton Friedman​

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