These were the final elements of the budget deal that was reached yesterday:
–Add $200 million to the Foundation School Program
–Use a portion of TRS funding to get to $3.9 billion, the Democrats’ target amount for restoring the school cuts
The major point of disagreement arose over the System Benefit Fund, which has long been a personal concern for Sylvester Turner, became a contentious issue between Turner and Williams.
The Senate’s Medicaid budget rider, which laid out a possible path for Medicaid expansion, was rejected by the House.
The “all funds” budget number is $195 million. It came in $600 or so million under the spending cap.
Higher ed health related institutions received a sixteen percent increase. This was the best budget for higher ed in years.
