The House bill was expected to be debated early next week. On Tuesday, the group's 40,000 members plan to lobby lawmakers. Education groups will work together next week to monitor amendments and lobby legislators writing the next state budget, said Eric Hartman of the Texas Federation of Teachers. The bill's sponsor, meanwhile, worked to calm the nerves of questioning lawmakers and school superintendents who have recently expressed doubt in the plan as the political fighting between the House and Senate heated up. The sticking point is the requirement that districts continue paying what they pay for health insurance.
Opponents say that's unfair to districts that have been providing benefits.
Sadler said he knows of no other way to pay for the plan without requiring districts to keep paying what they pay now. Some senators, who have been drafting their own school insurance plan, have criticized the House's funding. Opponents say representatives seeking political popularity are spending too much of the tight state budget on school insurance and are slighting state employees who need pay raises and ignoring desperately needed increases in Medicaid. We set out to try and solve a problem. Unaffordable health insurance is being blamed in part for the state's teacher shortage and many small and rural districts have no access to or cannot afford insurance for their employees.