The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 23, 2025

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

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Howdy folks, today is Friday, May 23rd and you are listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Texas Senate has granted initial approval to an $8.5 billion public education funding and teacher pay package, an agreement that was reached earlier in the week by leaders from both the upper and lower chambers of the legislature. Senator Brandon Creighton presented the committee substitute to House Bill 2 before the Senate on Thursday evening, describing the legislation as, quote,

the most transformative education plan that Texas has ever seen. Details of the legislation were revealed on Wednesday. The $55 increase to the basic allotment will remain unchanged, and overall funding to schools will rise to $8.5 billion, an increase of $500 million

compared to the previous version of the bill. For more details on the deal, visit thetexan.news. Next, a four-week trial over a redistricting challenge to the congressional maps Texas adopted in 2021 began on Wednesday, with plaintiffs alleging legislators shorted the state two Hispanic-majority congressional districts

and multiple in the state house. The conglomeration of redistricting suits against the secretary of state and governor Greg Abbott assert that Texas should have two more minority majority districts, one in Harris County and another in Dallas-Foreworth. At least once every decade, the Texas legislature must redraw districts for Congress, the state house and senate, the state board of education, and the courts. After a summer-long quorum break, the legislature adopted maps for the various elected bodies in late summer 2021, due in part to the delayed release of the U.S. census caused by the COVID-19

pandemic. A brief by the League of United Latin American Citizens reads, quote, despite the significant overall growth of the Latino population compared to the Anglo population and the internal demographic shifts in favor of Latinos in areas such as the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and Harris County. Defendants reduce the number of Latino majority districts in both the congressional and state house redistricting plans. In other news, the Texas House passed a bill this week that will direct the State Board of Education to develop K-12 social studies standards that include education on the quote history, tactics, and consequences of communism. Senate Bill 24 authored by Senator Donna Campbell was laid out in the lower chamber by Representative Jeff Leach, who explained that the, quote,

"...intent of this bill is to ensure a factual and comprehensive education on communist atrocities paired with a comparison to our great American principles and preventing ideological indoctrination through the use of well-documented historical evidence." The bill includes mentions of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Holodomor in Ukraine, the Cambodian Genocide, the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Soviet-era political purge among other communist regimes. It will also require the SBOE to gather opinions and input from victims of these regimes and expert organizations. Also, Harris County plans to find $142 million in next year's budget for pay hikes

for law enforcement officers equivalent to the newly approved salaries for the Houston Police Department. In a three to two vote, the Harris County Commissioner's Court approved a motion from Commissioner Tom Ramsey on Thursday to create, quote, pay parity with the Houston Police Department, including all ranks at the Harris County Sheriff's Office and Constable's offices starting

fiscal year 2026 and quote a move Ramsey says can be done without raising taxes next year. Ramsey said quote. We have a roughly 2.6 billion dollar budget 500 million plus is discretionary spending. Those are choices this court makes to spend it on rather than statutory responsibilities like the sheriff's office, the constable's office, the courts, and others.

Ramsey's motion came in response to Houston's newly approved contract with the city's police, negotiated by Mayor John Whitmire, to increase salaries by nearly 36% over the next five years. Last but not least, two candidates are in a runoff election to become mayor of San Antonio, the seventh most populous city in the U.S., Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pabloz. The original race on May 3rd had 27 candidates, but Jones and Pavlos came out as the top two vote recipients.

Jones took 27 percent and Pavlos took 17 percent of the over 100,000 votes cast. Early voting in the race runs from May 27th through June 3rd. Election day is June 7th. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.