Recap of Education & Workforce Development Bills from the Texas Legislature

Following the end of the 89^th Legislative session, there were a number of bills that have either been signed by the Governor or are waiting for signature to be signed into law. Below is a brief overview of some of the bills that the Round Rock Chamber worked with, but also some other important updates to public education, higher education, and other workforce areas.

Public Education Funding

The 89^th Legislature put together an $8.5 billion boost for Texas’ public schools, the product of weeks of negotiations between the chambers. The funding package, known as House Bill 2, provides extra money for teacher and staff pay raises, educator preparation, special education, safety requirements and early childhood learning.

Workforce Development

As part of the Chamber’s legislative priorities, the Chamber supports legislation for additional workforce development programs that help to increase opportunities to expand and diversify the workforce. Two such bills that were passed and sent to the Governor to be signed into law included House Bill 20 and House Bill 120. Both bills aim to expand career training for students statewide. House Bill created the Applied Sciences Pathway program to provide opportunities for students to concurrently earn high school diplomas and certificates from institutions of higher education. House Bill 120 establishes various provisions on career and technical education, including expanding Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program eligibility and increasing certain allotments under the Foundation School Program. The Round Rock Chamber was proud to support these bills and monitor progress through session.

Other areas that the Chamber helped with included advocating for funding for workforce education and reskilling programs such as the TRUE Program and the Innovative Adult Career Education Grant Program which received almost $30 million total in appropriations for the next two years.

Other bills that passed that will continue to assist in workforce development efforts include:

• SB 2788 –Establishes a state-recognized information technology (IT) apprenticeship credential, which public junior colleges and technical institutes can offer to help address Texas’ shortage of qualified IT workers.
• HB 3260 – For purposes of the Texas Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program, defines a qualifying training program as recognized or certified by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) according to rules adopted by TWC instead of by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Higher Education

A number of bills were also passed that helped to provide funding and changes to assist our higher education partners. An important piece of funding for higher education is the Texas University Fund. The Texas University Fund, commonly referred to as TUF, provides funding to eligible public institutions of higher education in Texas, to enhance their research capabilities and achieve national prominence to help drive the state economy forward. The 89^th session continued their investment in this fund which will help institutions like Texas State University to continue more research and development assisting the university’s path to R1 status.

For community colleges like ACC, SB 1786 builds on the momentum of HB 8 (88R) by enabling more students to access high-quality dual credit opportunities, strengthens transfer pathways to include recognition of transfers to private and independent universities in Texas, and refines the definition and prioritization of credentials of value to enhance responses to labor needs.

SJR 59, subject to voter approval in November, would create two special funds—the Permanent Technical Institution Infrastructure Fund and the Available Workforce Education Fund—outside the General Revenue Fund to support capital projects for the Texas Technical College System. Additionally, if this passes then TSTC would receive $850 million in funding to these endowment funds.

Childcare

There were a number of bills passed to increase access to childcare, including an extra $100 million in childcare scholarships and giving regional workforce development boards more freedom to allocate money to key providers. Another bill passed was House Bill 3963 which codifies the creation of an Early Childhood Integrated Data System to better assess the effectiveness of current policies and better understand where families are enrolling and gaps in supply. The Round Rock Chamber was able to drop a card to support this bill and are excited for the Governor to officially sign into law.

Other bills addressing workforce needs include the following:

• SB 1265: Creates a free, online resource hub for employers to access childcare resources for their workforce, at no cost to the state.
• SB 462: Shores up childcare capacity for all working families by creating a priority category for childcare workers to access scholarships for their own children without waiting for months or years on a waitlist.
• HB 117: Establishes the Governor’s Task Force on Governance of Early Childhood Education and Care under TEA to address governance and operational challenges within Texas’ early childhood education system.

As bills are still being signed or vetoed by the Governor up until June 22^nd, we will continue to monitor the status of other legislation and will provide other updates in these areas for impactful legislation that is in line with the Chamber’s legislative priorities.

For more information on these areas, please reach out to Zach Scott, Director of Workforce and Industry Development, at zscott@roundrockchamber.org.