Issues

Earlier this month Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and I came to an agreement on community college healthcare funding. Originally vetoed by Governor Perry, community colleges will now receive $99 million to pay the state’s share of healthcare benefits for eligible community college employees and an additional one-time payment of $55 million to transition to the agreed definition of proportionality for health insurance benefits. These benefits will include only those community college employees paid with state funds.

These funds will be allocated by September 1, 2008. Additionally, Governor Perry, in consultation with the Lieutenant Governor and me, will appoint a task force to make recommendations to the 2009 legislature on how future incentive funds should be allocated. We have also committed to exploring future incentive funding increases for higher education, where additional funding is tied to institutional performance in meeting specific goals. As part of the agreement, the Governor Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and I asked community colleges to rescind tuition, fee or tax increases adopted in the 2008 fiscal year and any tuition, fee, or tax increases under consideration for fiscal year 2009 that were designed to offset the original veto.

I am pleased we reached an agreement that will fully allocate the money that was vetoed to each community college. I want to thank every House representative who took an interest in this issue and helped us reach a resolution. I am a strong proponent of community colleges, as they play an important role in preparing Texans of all ages and backgrounds for the workforce, and I am confident that this compromise will further improve our community college system.