State of Texas: Plea for education funding special session rejected by Gov. Abbott

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Texas Democrats urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call lawmakers back for a special legislative session Monday, citing "the urgent need to address school finance and improve funding for all of our school districts." Some of Texas' largest school districts face significant budget deficits, forcing some to cut teachers and staff for next [...]

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Texas Democrats urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call lawmakers back for a special legislative session Monday, citing "the urgent need to address school finance and improve funding for all of our school districts."

Some of Texas' largest school districts face significant budget deficits, forcing some to cut teachers and staff for next school year. Democrats blame the cash crunch on the legislature's failure to increase per-student funding for the public school system in the last legislative session.

"We have the resources available to better fund our schools, so we should act," wrote State. Rep. John Rosenthal, D-Cypress, in the letter.

Texas lawmakers had a record $33 billion budget surplus to allocate last year, but no money went towards increasing schools' basic allotment - the uniform per-student funding that makes up the foundation of Texas' school funding. Abbott tied school funding increases to his plan for state-subsidized private school tuition vouchers, which did not pass.

Abbott blamed schools' budget deficits on local budgeting problems and an expiration of federal pandemic funding.

"You'll be shocked to hear this, but it's not me that's responsible for this," Abbott said.

In a reply to Rosenthal Monday afternoon, Abbott blamed the deficits on Democrats' refusal to vote for a package of school funding paired with private school vouchers. He signaled he will not call another special session for this issue.

"My commitment to improving public schools is just as resolute as yours," he wrote to Rosenthal. "To achieve our shared goal, however, it is incumbent upon you to work with your fellow Texas House members to muster the votes to get it passed—something you were unwilling to do last year.”

In the Democrats' letter, they cite $5 billion in the budget already appropriated for public schools but left unspent, and another $18 billion left over from the surplus.

"It's constitutionally our responsibility to provide for the schools," Rosenthal told Nexstar. "Schools across the state having massive budget consequences. While we sit on top of one of the largest budget surpluses in Texas history. I think you can just do the math yourself."

38 House Democrats joined Rep. Rosenthal in signing the letter.

While Democrats did play a significant role in blocking Gov. Abbott's push to allow public funds to go toward private education, opposition from 21 Republican lawmakers ultimately shut the plan down. Those members, mostly from rural districts, joined Democrats to approve an amendment to the education funding bill to prevent tax dollars from being used for private schools.

Many of the 21 Republicans who voted for that amendment will not be returning to the legislature next year. Four did not seek reelection, five others lost their primary elections, three others face runoffs.

Campaign for Phelan's seat is now most expensive Texas House race ever

The runoff election that's drawing the most attention involves House Speaker Dade Phelan. He faces Republican challenger David Covey in District 21 in southeast Texas. The results will have major implications for the balance of power at the State Capitol.

New numbers show record-breaking spending in the upcoming Republican runoff election between embattled Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and his challenger David Covey.

According to advertising analytics firm AdImpact, a total of $6.9 million had been spent on political advertising as of Thursday, making the race for Texas House District 21 the most expensive in state history.

AdImpact said $3.5 million was spent on ads supporting Phelan, $1.6 million on ads supporting Covey, and $1.8 million on anti-Phelan ads.

"We source these spend figures directly from the broadcasters, verifying these totals through a combination of agency relationships (those placing these buys), FCC Public File scraping, and ad tracking," said John Link, vice president of data for AdImpact.

District 21 is in southeast Texas, near the Louisiana state line. It includes portions of Jefferson County and all of Jasper and Orange counties.

If all voters who cast ballots in the March primary (33,675, according to county records) turn out again for the runoff election, the $6.9 million spent on the race would amount to roughly $205 per voter.

Phelan is looking to keep his seat and fend off attacks from within his own party following last year's House impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the non-passage of Governor Abbott's "school choice" plan in the last legislative session, and Phelan's appointment of a handful of Democrats to chair committees.

Covey —who bills himself as a "political outsider" on his campaign website— has the backing of Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former President Donald Trump. Covey has also received reinforcement from the influential national conservative PAC the Club for Growth which announced in March it would spend roughly $900,000 in ads targeting Phelan.

Election Day is May 28th.

Divide over trans health care fuels heated House runoff

A divide over health care for transgender minors could be the pivotal issue in a tight House runoff between two Houston Democrats. Union organizer Lauren Ashley Simmons is challenging incumbent House member Shawn Thierry, who's seeking her fifth term in the south Houston House District 146.

Last session, Thierry was one of only four House Democrats who supported Senate Bill 14, which bans transition-related health care for transgender minors. The legislation bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgeries to assist in their transition.

Thierry explained her decision about SB 14 in a statement posted on social media. She also gave an emotional speech on the House floor, in which she said she made the vote for her conscience and her constituents.

Simmons cited that vote as a factor in their decision to challenge Thierry in District 146. Simmons received more votes than Thierry in the March primary election, but came up short of the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff.

In recent weeks, some of Thierry's supporters posted yard signs equating transition care for transgender minors with "Black genocide." Thierry told the Houston Chronicle that she had nothing to do with the signs, but said she understood the sentiment.

Thierry also appeared on a podcast in April, where she compared administering drugs to minors for transition care to deaths in Gaza.

"We're talking about genocide in Gaza, which is real, the Israelis in Gaza, what about genocide right here?" said Thierry during the podcast. Thierry also brought up history of slaves being castrated and medical experimentation on Black people in the past.

"I think there's really a divide," said Taylor Goldenstein, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle covering the campaign. "There are some religious folks, and especially pastors who have come out in support of Thierry, who are maybe not using this specific term genocide, but they have the same concerns about, you know, will this affect the Black community as a whole."

"On the flip side, there's been a pretty strong reaction from LGBTQ advocates and other Democrats who feel like it goes too far. And this type of care is not intended to target a certain group, and especially not in the way that she compared it to Gaza," Goldenstein said.

The Harris County Democratic Party issued a statement about the signs, saying that "this type of rhetoric has no place in Democratic politics or the Democratic Party.

"Equating trans affirmative healthcare to genocide is abhorrent and false," the statement read. "The HCDP condemns anti-trans hate speech and transphobia in all its forms."

Both candidates have emphasized other issues in the campaign. Simmons has made expanding access to health care and supporting public education their main priorities during the primary and runoff. Thierry has focused on her policy successes, such as addressing maternal mortality, enhancing school safety, combating human trafficking and working on tax relief efforts.

"Both candidates will say that this isn't an one-issue election and that they have all these other points that they want people to know about them," Goldenstein said. "But at the end of the day it does seem like it's a referendum on, you know, can a Democrat vote for something that is widely considered by Democrats to be anti-LGBTQ, and hold their position."

Lawmakers double down on LGBTQ+ policies ahead of next Texas session

The Texas Legislature saw a sharp divide in 2023 over a record number of bills impacting the LGBTQ+ community, and the fight over several that passed has spilled out of the Capitol and into the courtroom.

Proponents of controversial bills that became laws — like the READER Act, a prohibition on certain medical options for transgender children and the so-called “drag ban” — have said their efforts were meant to protect children from explicit sexual content and influence.

But those opposing many of the bills said the laws harm kids, discriminate specifically against LGTBQ+ people and restrict constitutionally-protected freedoms.

Now state and federal judges are considering cases against the laws.

Almost a year since the 2023 legislative session wrapped — and six months since KXAN investigated the influx of LGBTQ+ bills — we take a look at the status of the measures that passed, which ones have been challenged and held up in court, and others that failed but may be resurrected the next time lawmakers meet in 2025.

Senate Bill 12, commonly referred to as the “drag ban” by its opponents — although it never explicitly mentions "drag" in the text — continues to be fought in federal court. The state appealed an injunction on the law. On April 10, the American Civil Liberties Union submitted a brief to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the law will remain blocked until the court issues a final ruling. The lawmakers behind the legislation did not respond to KXAN’s request for comment.

Another law that bans certain medical options for transgender children and could put a doctor’s medical license in jeopardy for providing them — created by Senate Bill 14 — is awaiting a Texas Supreme Court decision. The high court heard oral arguments on Jan. 30, when opponents of the law argued it stops parents from being able to make medical decisions on behalf of their kids and discriminates against kids on the basis of sex. The legislators who wrote the law did not reply to KXAN’s questions about the law and case.

Booksellers and publishers, including Book People in Austin, have opposed the law created by House Bill 900 that requires them to rate the level of sexual content in books sold to school libraries. The law remains blocked by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. In April, the Fifth Circuit declined to reconsider (or rehear) the case. The lawmaker behind the legislation said the Texas Attorney General should appeal.

The law's author, Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, said it was "incredibly disappointing" that the court sided with "book vendors who push pornography on unsuspecting children in our public schools" and Attorney General Ken Paxton should appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a post on X.

Those challenging the “READER Act,” say it violates the First Amendment, and the cost to enact it could put booksellers out of business. Lawmakers backing the law did not respond to KXAN’s request for information, but they’ve said the rules are intended to stop children from encountering sexually explicit content.

Paxton's office did not respond to KXAN’s questions on any of the bills or lawsuits.

The impact of Senate Bill 17 has been felt in public universities across the state. The law prohibits higher education institutions from having diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, offices. They cannot make DEI-based hiring decisions or require people to participate in DEI training, among other provisions.

Since the law passed, university DEI offices at Texas' public universities closed and some employees formerly with those offices saw their jobs eliminated. Student groups have also lost institutional support, and programs and scholarships shuttered.

Bill author Sen. Brandon Crieghton, R-Conroe, spoke with KXAN in March, saying DEI offices had a chilling effect on campus freedom of speech and promising hearings for universities who seek to "subvert the intentions and the spirit of the law." Creighton also warned that universities failing to comply with the law could have their funding frozen or face legal action.

Student organizing against the bill, which started during the 2023 regular session, continues.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 15 into law last year, requiring athletes at public colleges or universities to play on teams that match the sex on their birth certificates and barring transgender athletes from competing on teams that correspond with their gender identity. The law has gone unchallenged in the state, so far. 

One federal threat to the law’s standing was a proposal by President Joe Biden’s administration in April 2023 to reinterpret Title IX — a more than half-century-old rule that increased educational opportunities free from sex discrimination. That proposal would challenge a state’s ability to enforce categorical transgender athlete bans. After pushback, the Biden administration released new provisions under Title IX revisions; however, any guidance on transgender athletes' eligibility to participate in sports was absent. At least 24 other states have similar laws to Texas on transgender athlete participation on the books. 

In May, Abbott sent a letter to higher education leaders across the state directing them to ignore the federal rule changes to Title IX.  Abbott specifically cited Texas’ law requiring athletes to compete based on their gender at birth, saying the new federal rules would “erase the advancements Texas has made.”

While there have been no legal challenges in Texas, several other states have run into hurdles. Most recently, a federal appeals court ruled a West Virginia law violates a transgender teen athlete’s rights under Title IX by blocking her from participating on her middle school cross country and track and field team, according to the Associated Press.

Many other high-profile bills that would affect the LGBTQ+ community didn’t pass in the last session. There’s a chance any bill that failed could be refiled when lawmakers gather again in January.

In 2023, Texas lawmakers considered 141 pieces of legislation impacting the LGBTQ+ community. That was a record number for the state and one-fifth of all such state-level bills in the country that year, according to records analyzed by the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Texas. 

KXAN followed the progress of several bills that didn’t pass, including the homosexual conduct bill that was the focus of KXAN’s OutLaw project.

For decades, Texas law has continued to contain a provision outlawing homosexual conduct, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 that such a law is unconstitutional. Lawmakers have tried for years to get the homosexual conduct law removed from statute but have so far been unsuccessful. KXAN found Texas lawmakers have filed at least 55 bills since the early ‘80s to strike the law from the books; 39 of those attempts followed the Supreme Court’s decisions. All the bills failed.

Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, filed the most recent bill to repeal the homosexual conduct law in 2023; and, if re-elected, he said he plans to file similar legislation in 2025.

Jones said his constituents were proud to see the momentum he built to repeal the homosexual conduct law, which is under section 21.06 of the criminal code, and they "support our efforts to continue to push for the repeal of sec. 21.06 in the 89th Legislative Session."

The homosexual conduct repeal bill was just one of many LGBTQ+ related bills that didn’t pass. Here’s a look at others.

Senate Bill 162, filed by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would have barred minors from changing the gender listed on their birth certificates. Those who fought against the bill, like activist Rocky Lane, said without an updated birth certificate a trans person would be unable to update other official documents.

"If I’m pulling out a document that says something other than ‘M’, that is a dangerous situation for me. That’s an outing situation for me," Lane said at the time. 

The bill passed the Senate but not the House. KXAN was unable to obtain a comment on the future of the potential law from Perry's office.

Ash Hall, with ACLU Texas, expects a similar bill to be filed in the upcoming session. 

Other states have seen a push toward making changes to gender markers on birth certificates. In February, Montana reinstated a ban on changing gender markers on a birth certificate. The previous ban had been overturned in court, while the new ban was directed by the state's Department of Public Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, lawmakers attempted to pass a bill similar to Texas’ Senate Bill 162, but not restricted to minors. That bill made it out of committee but did not receive a vote in the Oklahoma House.

If it had passed, Senate Bill 559 would have expanded religious protection for attorneys in Texas who express their personal views on LGBTQ+ issues. Advocates worried the legislation could have led to "state-sanctioned discrimination."

The bill's author, Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, maintained the bill was intended to address “cancel culture” as well as “growing attacks” on freedom of speech, religious freedom and expression of religious belief. The senator's office did not respond to KXAN when asked whether he planned to file similar legislation next year. The bill had the backing of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops and the conservative, faith-based non-profit advocacy group Texas Values.

Texas lawmakers also considered enacting House Bill 890, a law that would have restricted conversations surrounding gender identity and sexual orientation in Texas public and charter schools for students in pre-K through 12th grade.

The law ultimately didn't pass, but spokesperson for Equality Texas said the organization anticipates a similar filing to come in the 2025 legislative session.

Several school districts, including Katy ISD, have since adopted similar policy initiatives at their own campuses.

In May, the U.S. Department of Education initiated an investigation into Katy ISD over its gender identity policy — which requires staff to alert parents if students ask to use alternative pronouns, names or identify as transgender — as possible gender harassment under Title IX, according to reporting by the Texas Tribune.

Elsewhere, Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys reached a settlement in early March on the state's Parental Rights in Education law, a similar measure to what Texas had proposed. Originally, that law had also restricted any discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida classrooms; following the March settlement, students and teachers can discuss those topics — provided they are not part of school instruction.

Another bill, Senate Bill 1601, would have cut off state funding for any public library that hosted a drag story time event for children. The legislation did not become law in 2023. It passed the Senate but never received a hearing in the House. Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, introduced this measure. Despite multiple requests from KXAN, he never responded to inquiries about whether he plans to bring back this proposal next year.

Student accuses UT professor during Senate antisemitism hearing

A hearing Tuesday at the Texas Capitol focused on recent protests at university campuses, the law enforcement response to those and allegations of Jewish students now feeling unsafe.

Levi Fox, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, got invited to testify at the Senate subcommittee on higher education about some examples of antisemitism he witnessed on campus recently. He shared a troubling claim about a professor and explained this happened during a protest last month about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

"He walked up to me and a group of Jewish students, and he said, 'You'll be the next ones they throw into the ovens,'" Fox said. "When I heard that, I was like, OK, that's — wait, did that really just happen? Then when I learned that he was a professor, that was shocking — a history professor, nonetheless. He tried to justify it, and I wasn't — I was also doing another conversation, so I didn't get to hear his full justification. In my opinion, there's really no justification for saying something like that, but to hear that there's a UT Austin professor that holds that belief that teaches young students is terrifying. I hope there's an investigation launched into that."

Fox told KXAN he did not make a formal complaint to anyone at the university about what he said he heard, but he made a promise to two state senators on the subcommittee Tuesday that he would share the professor's name with them in private.

"I didn't want to share it in such a public forum," Fox said. "I don't want to dox him, per se, but I do want to make sure that the correct officials have his information so that they can launch an investigation."

Pauline Strong, an anthropology professor at UT who also serves as president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, heard Fox's claims and expressed skepticism, especially because the alleged remarks he mentioned contained no additional context. She said it's the first time she ever heard about this and reiterated the university has a system for people to report these types of incidents.

"I am concerned that this professor could be targeted for something that the student said that he said," Strong said. "The university has processes in place if a student felt that a professor said something inappropriate, something antisemitic. The student did not say that he had gone through those processes, I believe, so I would ask him to go through the university processes if indeed a professor made an antisemitic remark to him or in his presence."

Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, kicked off Tuesday's hearing, which also included an update on how public colleges and universities are implementing the state's DEI ban, by defending how UT leadership and law enforcement handled the protests.

"Overall, Texas colleges and universities have handled these protests well and maintain their campuses for the overwhelming majority of students, faculty and staff that simply wanted to finish their semester, take exams, enjoy their graduation and walk across campus safely —campuses that are funded by Texas taxpayers," Creighton said. "What we witnessed on college campuses was more than a series of peaceful grassroots protests. It was more than a peaceful demonstration. It was an organized effort to rally comrades from across the state to emulate what was happening at Columbia University and to occupy our campuses and make demands of the taxpayer-funded universities. It was an effort to intimidate Jewish students and faculty."

During protests on April 24, law enforcement arrested 57 people on the UT campus, though the Travis County attorney announced her office would dismiss these cases because they did not have “sufficient probable cause.” However, another 79 arrests happened on April 29, and those cases have been allowed to proceed.

Lt. Col. Freeman Martin with the Texas Department of Public Safety faced questions Tuesday about the agency's response. He explained DPS placed more troopers at UT compared to other universities that experienced protests throughout the state because it had "intelligence" that things could get more unruly there and necessitated the additional officers.

Sam Law is among those still facing a criminal trespass charge from that second round of arrests. He's a Jewish graduate student at UT who came to the Capitol Tuesday to speak against the law enforcement response on campus and refute claims the protests are antisemitic.

"There are people who've been straight up lying, claiming that protesters have said antisemitic things," Law said. "I've been at these protests. I went to a Shabbat service organized on the South Lawn."

He also pushed back against criticism of protesters at times using the phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

"I'm talking about that this sort of peaceful coexistence [and] pluralism, and I think that these are Jewish values," Law said.

However, Courtney Toretto, a policy director with the central division of the Anti-Defamation League, told senators Tuesday that this particular chant could be interpreted as hateful. She said she wanted to provide some history so that students and protesters could understand why some find its use offensive.

"It's a cry for Israel not to exist," Toretto said. "It's calling for a Palestinian state that extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, effectively erasing the entire Jewish state."

Texas Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, attended the meeting Tuesday and mentioned it may be worth making more lessons about the history of Judaism and the Holocaust available in schools when the legislature reconvenes for another regular session next year.