“But that only works if the grants are large enough to encourage districts to participate. If the Legislature provides $236 million for the 2018-19 biennium, and the same number of students are served, the program will continue to provide $734 per student, which is about half of the $1,500 originally envisioned for the program. If the Legislature provides less funding, it will cut short the investment that has been made and threaten to sabotage the program.”  Read More.

“With the session fast approaching the halfway mark, the only thing House and Senate budget writers are virtually certain to pay for is two more years’ worth of the emergency pay raises and new hires that state GOP leaders granted to CPS in December. But that’s only about one-quarter of the new money that the Department of Family and Protective Services, CPS’ parent agency, has said it needs in the next budget cycle to rein in abuse of vulnerable children and elderly Texans.” Read more.

 

• Texas Tribune, Texas House, Senate unanimously pass measures overhauling child welfare system, Marissa Evans, March 1, 2017

“Texas legislators from both chambers unanimously passed bills on Wednesday that would change how the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cares for vulnerable children.The simultaneous debates in both chambers came as advocates have pushed for months for lawmakers to take drastic measures to fix the state’s broken child welfare system. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the issue as one of four emergency items during his State of the State address in January. While the Senate debate drew no fireworks, over in the House, a proposed amendment to one of the bills that would have excluded undocumented people from accessing state funds aimed at helping some families caring for abused or neglected children prompted more than an hour of tense exchanges.” Read More.