What should Texas do with a surplus of $3.7 billion in tax revenues?

In an article from the Editorial Board of Austin American Statesman titled "A big surplus? Give schools a boost" you can learn that lawmakers may be starting with a record surplus for the next legislative session. The article was published on September 14, 2012 about two weeks after Susan Combs, the Texas Comptroller, began gathering data for the end of the fiscal year on August 31, 2012. She found that the state had collected over $44 billion in tax revenue which is $3.7 billion more than what she and her colleagues projected. A large increase to state revenues are coming from oil and natural gas production taxes, which are more specifically from drilling and fracking activity in West Texas' Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale formation. The comptroller's office published data stating oil and gas production tax collections in the first 11 months of the 2012 fiscal year were 44% higher than during the same period the year before. This is great news, however what the Texas Legislature does with this surplus is more important.

The Editorial Board of the Statesman is attempting to make fellow Texans, who are concerned with education in our state, aware that education should be the primary beneficiary of this surplus. I could not agree more. The Texas Legislature cut about $4 billion from education in 2011. The percentage of high school graduates in Texas has been lower than most other states in the U.S in recent years. We should not jeopardize the future of Texas by decreasing resources for education.

The report from Combs has some encouraging the Texas Legislature to use the $3.7 billion in surplus to satisfy its Medicaid obligations, as it did not in 2011, it was left underfunded to create the illusion that the 2012-13 budget was balanced. Once the Medicaid obligations are taken care of many believe it would be in our best interest to restore the $4 billion it cut from education in 2011. I along with the Editorial Board support this idea.

The 2011 Texas Legislature made about $15 billion in cuts over the previous two-year budget. Some project this session will be similar since the members will mostly hold the same ideology. Making cuts to obviously useless programs is understandable although most will agree education is a top priority and if we want to remain a leader amongst the states and the world we must invest in education for the future.