AUSTIN, Texas — House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have taken the unusual step of beginning negotiations in public on state spending in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting last month.
It began with Gov. Greg Abbott commending Phelan and Patrick on Monday afternoon for the quick work of their respective special legislative committees to address the Robb Elementary tragedy, which left 19 students and 2 teachers dead.
That was followed by a letter from Phelan to Patrick, which was followed by a letter Monday night from Patrick to Phelan.
Phelan’s letter to Patrick began with a concession to Patrick’s priority: $50 million toward bullet-proof shields for local law enforcement. But then Phelan got back to what were likely to be higher priorities for the Texas House: mental health and school safety.
“I also believe our state is best served by a multi-faceted response – one that includes strategies to improvement mental health outcomes and strengthen school security for students and teachers, which our chambers have worked in stride to improve and enhance for multiple sessions,” Phelan wrote in his letter. “Outlined below are several additional actions I believe we can reasonably take before the start of school this fall, and I urge your consideration and support of these efforts.”
Phelan’s suggestions, which would cost the state roughly $126 million, would include increased behavioral supports for adolescents in crisis; coordinated care teams for children diagnosed with psychosis; 30 additional mental health beds; more funding for the Texas School Safety Center and rapid response training for law enforcement; plus, silent panic alerts for school classrooms.
Patrick responded with his own letter, agreeing to Phelan’s school safety measures, plus some of the mental health measures Phelan suggested in his letter.
“I appreciate your willingness to act immediately on budget execution of $50 million, as I originally requested is just the first down payment, on supplying ballistic shields to school law enforcement,” Patrick wrote. “This is just the beginning of the process of appropriately equipping all law enforcement with another important tool to provide a speedy response to any threat. As we move forward this will require additional funds to ensure all officers across the state will have immediate access to these shields. This will need to be part of our base budget.”
Patrick said he was willing to release funds immediately on expanded child health telemedicine; an additional five to seven multisystemic therapy teams to address potential violence; and add two coordinated specialty care teams to address the diagnosis of psychosis, with one located in San Antonio.
On school safety, Patrick agreed to the increased funding for the rapid response law enforcement training, the Texas School Safety Center and silent panic alert technology. He also noted $14 million still remains unspent in a state fund to harden Texas schools.
“For the remaining items, and several more that the Senate has discussed, I know my members want to offer input as we quickly advance this agenda,” Patrick wrote. “No doubt your members share that same passion. We can address those issues as the committees continue to work through their charges.”
When Patrick and Phelan's items are added together, it would mean an additional $145 million or so in additional spending before the new school year. If the $14 million balance is applied to the cost, it's $130 million to cover immediate needs.
Budget execution authority for the items would likely go through the Legislative Budget Board. The 10-member board is co-chaired by Patrick and Phelan.
The ultimate cost of interventions – beyond the upcoming school year that starts in August – will be much higher. Patrick has labeled the $50 million in funding for bullet-proof shields a down payment. Phelan has estimated Texas will need 140 multisystemic therapy teams to serve the state. Texas currently has 7.
The additional mental health beds also are unaddressed.
Patrick also wants to discuss automatic locking doors at schools and metal detectors, which were implemented in Santa Fe after the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in 2018.
“One other matter we must address is money for fusion centers, which have proven successful with law enforcement identifying immediate threats and passing them on to school districts,” Patrick said. “I would like to set aside $5 million to see how we can expand this now and address further expansion through the work in our committees and into the next session.”