Local Texas Government Debt

July 31, 2025

Jorge Borrego

Jorge Borrego is a Post-Secondary Education Policy Analyst for the Next Generation Texas initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Borrego was a Legislative Director at the Texas House of Representatives. He also worked in the Nonprofit Sector, working for the Down Syndrome Association of Brazos Valley. Where he worked as an Event Coordinator, Data Administrator, and Policy Administrator. He is currently serving as the Treasurer on the organization’s Board of Directors.

Local Texas governments are drowning in debt – to find out exactly how much, put your address into the map below. For mobile, please click here.

Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

FACT SHEET: Understanding Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Taxpayer-funded lobbying (TFL) is a complex and unfortunate feature of state and local governance. While lobbying is typically associated with private interest groups attempting to influence government decisions, taxpayer-funded lobbying flips this model: it involves government entities themselves using public funds to influence legislative outcomes. The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s...

May 1, 2026

Higher Education

UT Austin’s New Civic Leadership School Takes Aim at “Anti-Civic Education”

A recent episode of Parent Empowerment with Mandy Drogin offered a pointed look at the University of Texas at Austin’s new School of Civic Leadership and the broader fight over what American students should be taught about Western civilization, religion, economics, and the nation’s founding ideals. Guest Justin Dyer, dean of the school, outlined the...

May 6, 2026

Taxes & Spending

Texas DOGE Roars to Life

Nearly one year ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 14 in an effort to “slash regulations, put stricter standards on new regulations that could be costly to businesses, and put a check on the growth of the administrative state.” All worthy goals too considering the Lone Star State’s cumbersome regulatory environment, which recently ranked “as the fifth most-regulated…in the nation, after California,...

May 15, 2026

Jorge Borrego

Related content

Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

UT Austin’s New Civic Leadership School Takes Aim at “Anti-Civic Education”

Texas DOGE Roars to Life