Most people understand that you shouldn’t spend more than you make. But many independent school districts (ISDs) don’t seem to have gotten the message. Over the last few weeks, numerous ISDs have been observed adopting deficit budgets. For those not well-versed, deficit budgeting “occurs when government expenses exceed revenue.” As you might imagine, there are...
When a citizen goes beyond the call of duty, he’s a hero. When a government goes beyond the call of duty, it’s overreach—and, unfortunately, some municipalities, like the city of College Station, seem to have made a bad habit of it. As was revealed in a Senate Committee meeting earlier this year, College Station city...
An influential Texas Senator took to X recently to ask the following question: “How much money is dedicated in the [2026-27] State of Texas Budget for Property Tax Relief, really?” The answer: appropriators set aside more than $10 billion this session for property tax relief purposes, which is one of the largest reductions in recent...
Tax cuts are coming for Texas homeowners and businesses. On Thursday, the 89th Texas Legislature put the final touches on its roughly $10 billion tax relief package, sending the last remaining elements to the governor for approval. Assuming a favorable reception, the Legislature’s completed package will include 4 separate pieces of legislation and 3 related...
Earlier this year, it was revealed that local governments spent as much as $98.6 million in 2023 to hire contract lobbyists whose only job was to advocate for higher taxes, more spending, and bigger government. That level of expenditure is up from $75 million in 2021 and $41 million in 2017. Of course, that nearly...
During the May 2025 election cycle, Texas voters were asked to decide on 313 separate propositions seeking $41.3 billion in new principal debt. These 300+ proposals were put forward by many different cities, counties, school districts, and special districts, each for a particular purpose and cost. Among the score of bonds proposed are those pitched...
It’s election season, which means Texas local governments are, once again, asking voters to approve huge quantities of new debt. In fact, according to the Bond Review Board’s bond election database, Texas cities, counties, school districts, and special districts are seeking voter-approval for 231 separate propositions, which are worth a combined $30.86 billion. If these bonds...
A new bill aimed at streamlining state agency rules and regulations has received approval from both chambers and is headed to the governor’s desk for signing. Among other things, Senate Bill 14 will create the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office (TREO) “to provide critical assistance and direction in identifying rules that are no longer necessary or...
Later today, the Texas House will take up and consider its version of the 2026-27 state budget, which promises to be quite a long and interesting affair consider that almost 400 amendments were filed. In anticipation of that debate, it’s helpful to see where things stand numbers-wise. For its part, the Texas House’s proposed budget...
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has just updated its superintendent salary database, revealing some eye-popping new detail about public executive compensation. According to TEA’s latest salary data, there were approximately 1,200 superintendent positions in Texas during the 2024-25 school year, which were either filled in a full-time or part-time capacity. For full-time administrators, the median...
Like other Texas school districts, Leander ISD (LISD) is in the process of rightsizing its workforce and budget after a decade-long period of unguarded growth. As reported in greater detail by the Austin American-Statesman: “The Leander school district announced plans to slash more than 200 campus-level staff positions—including nearly 150 teachers — and $3 million...
Every year, local governments spend millions hiring lobbyists in the hope of influencing state-level policymaking, both before, during, and after each legislative session. These hired guns generally fall into 1 of 3 categories: external lobbyists (i.e. contract lobbyists); internal lobbyists (i.e. intergovernmental relations (IGR) staff); and publicly-funded pro-government associations (i.e. Texas Municipal League (TML) ,...