Texas HB 2

"What’s Really Inside Texas House Bill 2 (HB 2)?

They said it was about teacher raises.
They said it was about helping students.
But here’s what they didn’t say.

HB 2 is a $7.7 billion education finance bill that was passed quietly, with language that sounds helpful on the surface—but shifts control, power, and public funds into private hands.

Let’s break it down:

✅ What they promised:
– More money for classrooms
– Bigger teacher paychecks
– Better special education support
– Fairer school funding

But in reality...

🚨 Here’s what it actually does:
– Gives charter schools up to 7% of the per-student allotment for buildings—even if they fail academically
– Removes external oversight of charter real estate deals (they can now lease buildings they own to themselves with public money)
– Creates a new “Acknowledged Teacher” label—but only teachers who fit TEA's criteria get bonuses. No across-the-board raises.
– Changes how special education is funded, moving from placement-based funding to a vague “service intensity” model that may reduce funding for students with the most severe needs
– Centralizes power under the Commissioner of Education to control grants, designations, and even who qualifies as a “resource campus”
– Skips audits, sidesteps public bid laws, and builds new funding pipelines without Legislative Budget Board review
– Rewards charter operators, private vendors, and data firms with public dollars—while public schools and rural districts get left behind

🧾 TEA and the Commissioner now have massive unchecked power to decide who gets money and who doesn’t—without input from local school boards or voters.

Who gains?
📈 Charter school chains
🏢 Real estate investors
📊 Education tech consultants
🏛️ State officials who don’t answer to your local board

Who loses?
👩‍🏫 Teachers without TEA-designation
👦 Students in special education
🏫 Local districts with limited influence
🗳️ Voters who thought they still had a say in how schools are run

Here’s the truth:
HB 2 is not about fixing education.
It’s about rerouting public funds through new gates—and giving those gatekeepers unchecked power.

Temporary money. Permanent mandates. And almost no accountability.

If we want to save public education in Texas, we have to stop calling this kind of bill “reform.”
It’s not reform. It’s redirection—with long-term consequences.

📢 Share this.
📚 Read the fine print.
🗳️ And ask your elected officials:
Why are we giving charter chains more power than the people who pay the taxes?"