MESQUITE, Texas — The U.S. Marshals Service North Texas Fugitive Task Force arrested a Mesquite ISD teacher on Wednesday accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student. The suspect, 32-yearold Cesar Jimenez, was a teacher in the automotive program at Vanguard High School. In a statement on Tuesday, Mesquite ISD said Jimenez had resigned from his position after learning of the district's concerns and the police investigation.  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s fantasy of abolishing property taxes would set the state up for financial failure and end public education as we know it by placing a greater burden on low- and medium-income Texans.  The most powerful man in Texas politics wants you to believe he’s looking out for homeowners, but there’s always an unacknowledged goal for significant initiatives like this one. You need only look at who deposited $3 million in Patrick’s campaign account and who gave the record $6 million donation to Gov. Greg Abbott to boost private religious schools. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — After months of delay, a plan to cut your property taxes is on the fast-track. On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed a key portion of an $18 billion package that would help both homeowners and businesses.  What You Need To Know  On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed a key portion of an $18 billion package that would help both homeowners and businesses  While Democrats joined Republicans in passing the bills, they raised concerns about a lack of new money for schools  One even criticized House leadership for removing a Senate-backed amendment to give teachers a bonus, which  Republicans say that will be addressed in the next special session  The full property tax relief package is expected to be voted on and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday  While Democrats joined Republicans in passing the bills, they raised concerns about a lack of new money for schools. One even criticized House leadership for removing a Senate-backed amendment to give teachers a bonus. Republicans say that will be addressed in the next special session view article

COLEMAN, Texas — Coleman ISD could lose up to $500,000 in state funding this year. The State Comptroller on all school district property values recently released its report for the Property Value Study conducted for Coleman ISD. The results from that study estimates the school district will lose $500,000 in lost revenue for 2024. State law requires values to be at least 95% of sales prices but the report shows values are much lower than that requirement. The Coleman County Central Appraiser, Eva Bush, said the state's appraisal of the district came in higher than her appraisal which resulted in the shortfall. view article

It’s mid-April, which means homeowners across Texas are starting to receive notices of their property’s new appraised value in the mail. As a state without income tax, Texas relies heavily on property taxes. Rising home values result in rising tax payments later, and one way to save money is to protest the appraisal value with the county appraisal district. Is it worthwhile to protest your appraisal value? Are there any drawbacks? Here’s what Houston-area experts have to say. view article

With budget challenges ahead, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) is focused on which positions it can eliminate. District leaders gave the community and Board of Trustees a preliminary 2024-25 budget with a potential $60 million deficit looming. During Thursday night's meeting, Austin ISD officials said their first goal is to reduce and cut expenditures by $30 million. While the cuts would not lead to a balanced budget, officials said it would get them closer to where the district feels "comfortable." view article

During a school board meeting the Beaumont Independent School District Board of Trustees voted to file a lawsuit against the Texas Comptroller's Office to appeal the 2022 property value study. view article

A booming petrochemical buildout on the Gulf Coast has drawn billions of dollars in public subsidies from state tax abatement programs despite regular violations of pollution permits, according to a new report released Thursday. The Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental nonprofit based in Texas and Washington, D.C., compiled data on all U.S. plastics projects built, expanded or proposed since 2012, almost all of them along the Gulf Coast. The report identified 50 plastics complexes built or expanded in the last 12 years, 33 of them in Texas, where they have drawn a total of $1.65 billion in property tax breaks through the state’s Chapter 313 program for energy and manufacturing companies, which the state legislature replaced last year with a new but similar program. view article

Coleman ISD could lose up to $500,000 in state funding this year. The State Comptroller on all school district property values recently released its report for the Property Value Study conducted for Coleman ISD. The results from that study estimates the school district will lose $500,000 in lost revenue for 2024. State law requires values to be at least 95% of sales prices but the report shows values are much lower than that requirement. view article

The challenger to House Speaker Dade Phelan in the upcoming runoff election just gained the endorsement of one of his former opponents, leading Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to call on Phelan to terminate his campaign. Alicia Davis, a Jasper County activist, received 10.5 percent of the vote on election night last week in the three-way race for House District 21—the seat currently occupied by Phelan. David Covey, the former Orange County GOP chairman, received first place with 46.3 percent of the vote while Phelan is entering the runoff election behind with 43.2 percent support. view article

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously Monday to pursue an exchange that would give 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park in Cameron County to Elon Musk’s SpaceX spacecraft company. The state park land would be swapped for 477 acres adjacent to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, an area the agency has been interested in for many years because it’s “one of the most biologically diverse regions in North America” and provides habitat for endangered species and migratory birds, the agency said. The vote grants Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff the authority to begin negotiations with SpaceX for the land swap, including conducting environmental assessments that could take up to 18 months. view article

The lack of water prompted the recent closure of a 51-year-old sugar cane mill, the only one in Texas and one of three in the entire United States. Outside the now-shuttered Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers Inc., U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a Republican who represents this part of South Texas, stood with other lawmakers and border leaders on Monday. view article

LUFKIN — When Rita Kromer’s home of 50 years burned to the ground in 2021, she considered replacing it with a mobile home to keep her costs down. Kromer was stunned to learn the Huntington City Council had approved an ordinance less than a year prior prohibiting the placement of mobile homes on lots designated for single family homes. They could only be placed in the city’s five existing mobile home parks. Incensed, Kromer successfully mobilized Huntington residents demanding the East Texas city council rescind its decision. She celebrated by placing her new mobile home on her property. But two years later the Huntington city council reinstated the ban. view article

The Huntington City Council has flip flopped twice on a mobile home ordinance since 2020. When Rita Kromer’s home of 50 years burned to the ground in 2021, she considered replacing it with a mobile home to keep her costs down. Kromer was stunned to learn the Huntington City Council had approved an ordinance less than a year prior prohibiting the placement of mobile homes on lots designated for single family homes. They could only be placed in the city’s five existing mobile home parks. view article

Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett introduced House Bill 7412 to fix administrative issues that have created hurdles for some in rural communities.  LUBBOCK — As Texans spend more of their income on paying their rent than essentials like health care, food, and transportation, several bills filed this congressional session aim to make it easier for people in rural communities to continue living there.  Last week, Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, introduced House Bill 7412. It would address administrative issues in the Rural Housing Voucher program that prevent people in rural communities from using critical benefits like housing vouchers.  The bill would clean up some of the hurdles, such as making official notices about housing assistance more readable and informing landlords of the program so they are more likely to accept vouchers from tenants. It would also direct the Rural Housing Service office to develop a plan identifying at-risk tenants and ensure they have a fast approval process for vouchers. view article

BEAUMONT, Texas — A judge has ruled against the appeal of the Beaumont Independent School District first brought forward in 2022. Layoffs are not expected following the loss of the appeal. This decision comes after a nearly year-long dispute with the Texas Comptroller's Office. A State Office Administrative Hearings (SOAH) judge made the ruling against the appeal. BISD found out about the ruling February 19, 2024, according to a BISD news release. view article

second liquefied natural gas export proposed for the Port of Brownsville has received final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas Railroad Commission, moving the project a step closer to a Final Investment Decision (FID) to proceed with construction. Texas LNG, a subsidiary of Glenfarne Energy Transition LLC, would be capable of producing up to 4 million metric tons per year (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas for export to foreign markets. The project received final permitting from USACE and railroad commission under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 in January. Texas LNG received conditional approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2019, though in 2021 the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that FERC failed to conducgt an adequate analysis of “climate and environmental justice impacts,” in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Natural Gas Act, according to the Sierra Club. view article

Legal aid groups and housing advocates say there simply aren’t enough lawyers to keep up with the sheer volume of eviction filings.  As more renters struggle to afford housing, Texas landlords are filing more evictions than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic — and tenants have few, if any, protections to keep them housed.  Landlords filed more than 177,000 eviction cases in the Houston, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth areas in 2023, according to records tracked by Eviction Lab, a research center based at Princeton University that tracks eviction filings. The figure represents a slight uptick from 2022, the first full year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal government’s nationwide eviction moratorium. In Houston and Fort Worth, eviction filings have consistently exceeded pre-pandemic levels for nearly two years. view article

Financial mismanagement has become a topic of discussion in the Republican primary for Tarrant County tax assessor-collector. During a meeting with the Star-Telegram editorial board, incumbent Wendy Burgess alleged financial mismanagement by her opponent Rick Barnes — who she defeated in the 2018 primary. Early voting begins Tuesday for the March 5 primary. “Anything Ms. Burgess has to say regarding the Tarrant County GOP is second-hand-knowledge, if not worse,” Barnes said in a statement. view article

The fourth-quarter growth report is in for Denton ISD, and the picture is dramatic. The same week that a number of districts are either preparing to shutter campuses or discuss closures in Fort Worth, Irving and Plano, demographer Bob Templeton, the vice president of the school district segment at Zonda Education, told Denton ISD leaders to brace for impact. Denton ISD is red-hot on the growth heat map. “Texas is No. 1 in housing closures,” Templeton said, referring to the number of homes selling across the U.S. “Dallas-Fort Worth is No. 1 in the state in housing closures. Denton ISD is the No. 1 school district. You guys have been second, and you’ve been third. Now you’re No. 1.” view article

After the Texas Legislature claimed they had passed the largest property tax cut in Texas history, a new report shows that taxpayers are paying more in taxes. The latest report from the Huffines Liberty Foundation revealed that new numbers released by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar show total property tax revenue increased in 2023 by $165.2 million.   Additionally, the report by former State Sen. Don Huffines and policy analyst Bill Peacock claims that there was never an $18 billion tax cut, but instead, only $12.7 billion was dedicated to new property tax relief in Senate Bill 2.  view article

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The Canutillo School District continues to see low enrollment numbers across its campuses.  Officials with the district told KFOX14, that the population in the district is growing in areas away from their schools. view article

Elon Musk wants to deepen his links to Texas after a loss in court over his compensation at Tesla Inc. He’s already expanded a SpaceX launch site in South Texas, moved Tesla’s home office to Austin from Palo Alto, California, relocated himself and his charity and befriended state political leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott. Now Musk plans to summon Tesla shareholders for a vote on shifting the company’s incorporation to Texas from Delaware, after a judge in the tiny state voided his $55 billion pay package. As he often does with controversial business decisions, Musk turned to his followers on X and asked them to vote on what he should do. view article

Citizens are celebrating as a court sided with taxpayers this week on a constitutional amendment which was proposed in 2021 and would allow counties to issue more taxpayer-backed debt. In its ruling, the Court set a rule ensuring voters are entitled to more information when proposals will impact taxpayers. Proposition 2, which passed with 63 percent of the vote, would authorize counties to issue bonds—taxpayer-backed debt—to fund infrastructure and transportation projects in underdeveloped, unproductive, or blighted areas and to use increases in property taxes from those areas to pay off the debt. This is known as “tax increment financing” and is a tool currently reserved for cities. Grassroots groups filed a lawsuit alleging the Proposition 2 ballot language that was put before voters failed to comply with common law requirements and was substantially misleading because it neglected to inform voters that the proposal involved debt and property taxes. view article

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the move is “retaliation against Texas – for standing up to this administration over the border crisis.”  The White House announced Friday that the Biden administration is putting a “temporary pause on pending decisions of Liquified Natural Gas exports.”  The move, said to be made in deference to “the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment,” immediately drew criticism from Texas officials.  Noting that Texas is the third largest exporter of LNG in the world, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham posted, “This reckless move is nothing more than retaliation against Texas — for standing up to this administration over the border crisis.”  According to media reports, the Biden administration has been considering this pause on pending LNG exports for several days. view article

COLLEGE STATION (Texas Real Estate Research Center) – Texas’ housing market slowed in February after persistently low mortgage interest rates contributed to record sales in the existing-home sector the previous month. "Sales activity was greatly hindered by February’s unseasonably wintery weather that caused power outages and water disruptions across the state," said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist for the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. Existing-homes sold through the Texas Multiple Listing Services declined 16 percent from January, drawing even with year-ago levels. Despite slower sales, the state’s existing-home inventory fell below 1.5 months in February. The number of new listings that hit the market declined for the second straight month to their lowest reading since April 2020, when the state was under a stay-at-home mandate. view article

Count on the Texas Legislature to come up with a painfully complicated and inefficient way to repeal a painfully complicated and inefficient tax. Lawmakers deserve praise for targeting the Texas Franchise Tax, but their methods are unsound. The franchise tax, also called the margins or business tax, ranks consistently as one of the worst taxes anywhere in the country. It was the convoluted response to the Texas Supreme Court declaring the public school finance system unconstitutional. Lawmakers had to lower property taxes to comply with the court order, so to find replacement funds they rewrote the franchise tax, what businesses pay for the privilege to operate in our great state. view article

The Dallas school board Thursday night voted against putting a tax ratification election before voters this fall. The proposed 13-cent tax hike would have given the district $100 million to fund early childhood education and early college high school programs. The district also wanted to expand a program that pays extra money to top teachers who take jobs in some of the district’s toughest schools. view article

Trustees of the Wylie Independent School District proposed a tax rate of $1.13 per $100 of property value for the 2016-17 fiscal year — a tax cut of 2.4 cents — and added more money to the proposed budget for teachers' salaries during Monday's regular board meeting. Trustees conducted their third of three workshops for the 2016-17 budget of $32.340 million and set a special meeting for Monday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. to receive comments from the public on the budget and tax rate and then consider approval. view article

School trustees in Kilgore began their budget-writing season Monday with an overview of what is and isn’t known about financing the 2014-15 school year. view article