Hutchison and Burgess: Emergency Education Funding Delivered to Texas
Texas Schoolchildren No Longer Penalized

Washington, D.C. – Eight months after a provision that prohibited the state of Texas, and Texas alone, from accessing emergency education funding, $830 million dollars were delivered to the state earlier this afternoon. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX-26) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) each led legislation in their respective chambers to get this provision removed and allow Texas to receive the funding it was originally denied.

 “Today our schoolchildren and teachers received the funding they should have never been denied,” said Dr. Burgess. “For months I worked with Senator Hutchison to repeal the Doggett language and today Governor Perry told me Texas did receive the funding from the Department of Education. This $830 million will give our schoolchildren, teachers, and communities additional funding during this financial crisis - today is indeed Good Friday.”

“I am very pleased that Texas teachers and students are now being treated fairly. The Texas Republican delegation, with strong leadership by Congressman Michael Burgess, worked for months to undo the discriminatory Doggett amendment that could have cost Texas schoolchildren $830 million in badly needed funding for their education. This is a victory for our state’s students and teachers,” said Sen. Hutchison.

Last August Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-25) included an amendment in the Education Jobs Fund bill, H.R. 1586, that required the state of Texas, during the fiscal years 2011 to 2013 to maintain state support for elementary and secondary education at a level equal to or greater than the percentage provided for fiscal year 2011. That provision placed requirements on Texas beyond what all other states were required to make in order to qualify for funding and violated the Texas Constitution.

When the final 2011 budget was signed into law earlier this month, it included language that completely repealed the Doggett language, allowing Texas to meet the requirements to receive the funding.

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