Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced Thursday that the State of Texas will provide a "hold harmless" to Texas school systems for the rest of the 2020-2021 academic school year only.
This means funding will be made available to school systems in Texas that have seen enrollment and attendance declines because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as long as they maintain or increase current levels of on-campus attendance.
Districts will be funded on attendance in-line with projections made prior to the public health crisis.
This will ensure that school systems in Texas can retain their teachers for the 2020-21 school year for whom they originally budgeted.
This final semester of hold harmless means districts have been held harmless for three consecutive semesters — Spring Semester of the 2019-20 academic year and the entirety of the 2020-21 academic year.
"As more districts return to in-person instruction, we are ensuring that schools are not financially penalized for declines in attendance due to COVID-19," said Governor Abbott. "Providing a hold harmless for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year is a crucial part of our state's commitment to supporting our school systems and teachers and getting more students back in the classroom."
The news was celebrated by some Texas teachers. Zeph Capo, the President of the Texas Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers says the move should help re-stabilize schools and the districts. “Without hold harmless we would be looking at probably massive numbers of layoffs through many of our school districts, urban districts and rural districts alike,” said Capo. “The last thing that we need is a major budget fallout, like we had in 2011.”
The Texas State Teacher’s Association is cautiously optimistic about the move, suggesting the money may come with a “catch”. President Ovidia Molina released the following statement:
“For districts to receive full funding for the remainder of the spring semester, regardless of attendance losses, they will have to “maintain or increase current levels of on-campus attendance.” What if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases after spring break or because of Gov. Abbott’s decision to end the mask mandate and relax other safety standards? Districts that could lose on-campus attendance to online learning because their communities become COVID hotspots shouldn’t be penalized for attendance losses either.”
In normal times, schools are funded based on the students enrolled and the daily attendance on campus. This year, TEA prioritized flexibility to ensure essential funding support for school systems, by providing full funding based on daily attendance, whether the attendance was in-person or remote.