Texas Schools Face Deep Cuts Amid Budget Crunch

Rep. Jim Pitts, the chairman of the Texas House appropriations committee, answers questions about the proposed budget. Texas faces a projected shortfall of $15 billion to $27 billion.

—Eric Gay/AP

By Sean Cavanagh

Texas is famous for its oversized economic booms and busts, but its schools are bracing for a potentially dramatic bust of their own as state lawmakers consider budget cuts for the coming year that some fear will result in thousands of job losses and the elimination of programs serving students of all ages.

State officials, facing a two-year budget shortfall of anywhere between $15 billion and $27 billion, have proposed deep reductions in school spending, including providing less than is required by the state’s school-funding formula.

The budget predicament would seem to leave the state with a number of options for closing the projected shortfall, most of them unpleasant. Lawmakers could make deep spending cuts. They could dig into a $9.4 billion rainy-day reserve fund or increase state fees. Or they could raise taxes, though Republican Gov. Rick Perry , who was re-elected last fall, and GOP leaders in the state legislature have pledged...