Legislative Priorities
The decisions made during legislative sessions in Austin, Texas, impact our students, staff, and community. We are so fortunate in Prosper ISD to be blessed with the best! The best does not happen by chance but more by a community coming together to support and applaud the work of public education. The 87th Texas Legislature is in session, and one of the main areas of focus during this session is public education. The State of Texas was enjoying a time of significant economic growth and prosperity in 2019-2020. As a result, legislators had the luxury of billions of more dollars to spend on priorities, including education and property tax relief, which resulted in $11.6 billion in state dollars pumped into the public education system. Those expenditures were based on revenue projections that, while conservative, did not consider a 72
global pandemic or an oil price war. As a result, while the State Comptroller initially expected the state to have a $5 billion surplus at the end of the biennium, legislators now face a significant shortfall. Sadly, Prosper ISD did not fare well financially during the 86th legislative session due to being a property wealthy school district. In July of 2020, updated revenue estimates from the Comptroller indicated that the state would be facing a $4.5 billion shortfall at the end of the 2020-2021 biennium. Legislators are facing a session in which they must cover the deficit from the 2020-2021 biennium while attempting to craft a budget for the 2022- 2023 biennium using Comptroller estimates likely to be filled with significantly more
