2023 Texas Legislature: What you need to know about public education

With the legislative session now underway, lawmakers will once again have the chance to tackle issues that have plagued Texas’ public schools since the COVID-19 pandemic hit three years ago, like school funding and teacher shortages.

And they have a historic $32.7 billion surplus to work with. Both the Senate and House’s budget proposals include money for school safety, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed willingness to increase school funding for teacher raises.

But they’ll also address other issues that have dominated the discussion on public education recently, including how sexual orientation and gender identity are taught in schools, a renewed push to pass a “school choice” program and school safety in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Uvalde, where 19 elementary school students and two teachers were killed in May.