Rep. Fred Brown Talks Exclusively to News 3 on Draft Budget

Texas Budget Draft Cuts $13.7 Billion in Spending

Texas Budget Draft Cuts $13.7 Billion in Spending

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The first draft of the next Texas budget would cut about $13.7 billion in state spending.

The draft, sent to lawmakers and leaders late Tuesday, makes up for a revenue shortfall of at least $15 billion by making cuts to almost every state agency.

House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts says he will explain the proposal to members of the chamber on Wednesday. The baseline budget does not use any tax increases or money from the state's Rainy Day Fund.

Pitts had said every area would see cuts, from education to health care for the poor and disabled.

Some analysts say the true shortfall could be closer to $27 billion to account for enrollment growth in public schools and on Medicaid rolls.

EDUCATION:

Texas public schools' budgets would be cut by $5 billion under a preliminary state budget proposal.

The proposal, released late Tuesday, reduces state spending on schools, including a cut to arts education, teacher incentive pay and money for schools to administer steroid testing.\

The state's Foundation School Program - the pool of money distributed to schools using formulas based on daily attendance - would be reduced more than $4 billion. Highlights released with the proposal, however, note that the pool of money would be short almost $10 billion below the amount required to fund the school finance formulas under state law.

HIGHER EDUCATION:

Texas colleges and universities would be cut by $771.6 million in the first draft of the next two-year state budget.

Those cuts include nearly $100 million for the flagship univerisities Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.

House budget writers released their early budget plan Tuesday night, giving the first glimpse of how they plan to close a budget shortfall estimated between $15 billion and $27 billion.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES:

Four Texas two-year colleges would be closed to save $39 million in the next two-year state budget under preliminarly spending plan.

Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Frank Phillips College in Borger, Odessa College and Ranger College would be closed under a plan to slash $145 million in state funding for Texas community and junior colleges.

Those cuts are in a draft spending plan released Tuesday by House lawmakers.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:

The first draft of the next Texas state budget would cut $2.3 billion in state general revenue funds from Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and other health and human services, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The budget document from the Legislative Budget Board laid out a baseline for lawmakers. The first draft recommends cutting Medicaid, CHIP and food stamps by $2 billion. The draft cuts also include a $241 million dollar cut in state health services and $36 million in assistive living funds and $2 million to the Department of Aging.

Texas is trying to overcome a budget shortfall estimated at $15 billion. The draft budget does not call for any new taxes or tapping into the state's $9.2 billion rainy day fund.