“Texas is number one in so many categories. Texas should be number one in educating our children,” Abbott said before signing the bill. He spoke at a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Salado Middle School. Several young students stood behind him during the signing ceremony.

“This law will help students go from graduation directly into a good paying job right here in the Lone Star State,” Abbott said.

The $8.5 billion bill, known as House Bill 2, creates new buckets of money for public schools to spend on specific initiatives. This includes $1.3 billion for an Allotment for Basic Costs — to fund insurance premiums and teacher retirement pensions — $4.2 billion for teacher pay raises, over $2.2 billion for special education, childcare and school safety and more than $800 million for rural school districts.

Essential to education is high quality educators,” Abbott told the audience at the school. “We want to be able to attract and to keep the very best teachers. Toward that goal, this law provides a record pay raise for our teachers in the state of Texas,” he continued, drawing applause from the audience.

Shortly after signing the bill, the governor passed the microphone to JoMeka Gray, an elementary school teacher in Temple ISD. Gray has been named the 2025 Region 12 Elementary Teacher of the Year.

“House Bill 2 is more than just a policy. It is a promise to our teachers,” Gray said. She thanked the governor and lawmakers for their work on the legislation.

“This bill prioritizes teacher compensation and preparation as well as research-based strategies by the way of teacher reading and math academies in early literacy and numeracy, which are critical to long term academic success,” Gray added.

While the bill marks one of the largest increases to education funding in state history, some school leaders say they would have preferred a larger increase to the basic allotment, the amount of funding schools receive per student.

The new funds for schools are designated for specific items, like teacher pay raises, meaning they can only be used for their stated purpose. A mere increase to the basic allotment would have given schools more flexibility to use funds at their own discretion.

Three school district leaders previously told KXAN that they appreciate any increase in funding, but wish the basic allotment had been increased to give them more discretion on how to use the funds based on district needs.

“It doesn’t really provide the funding for the day-to-day issues that districts run across on any given day,” Dr. Alicia Noyola said. Noyola serves as Interim Superintendent of Mercedes ISD in south Texas. She worries funding under HB 2 will not be enough.

“While we will have money for a number of programs, districts will still be in a position to have to make some tough decisions,” Noyola added.

Still, the funding included in the bill gives teachers a pay raise of a few thousand dollars, especially those in smaller school districts. For the districts that cannot afford to increase teacher salaries on their own, the bill provides needed relief.

The bill also ties the basic allotment to increases in property values, so the figure will continue to increase even without additional legislation.

The legislation was signed in the home district of State Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, the lead author of HB 2.

“There’s never been a more important time to put the resources in the hands of our educators for us to be number one, and that’s what we kept in mind the whole time, was, how do we how do we go about doing that?” Buckley said at the news conference.  Buckley praised fellow House lawmakers for their work on the bill, as well as work in the Texas Senate, led by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe.

“I think this is a generational change for our public schools,” Creighton said. As he spoke, he turned to the children standing behind him.

Hemp business leaders call for Abbott to veto THC ban, parents voice support for the bill

On the final day of the legislative session, hemp industry leaders went to the Capitol to urge Gov. Abbott to veto Senate Bill 3, which would ban all THC products in the state of Texas, including the currently legal hemp-derived THC products.

“The hemp industry is a $10 billion a year enterprise, employing over 53,000 Texans,” Mark Bordas, executive director of the Texas Hemp Business Council said at the news conference. He spoke behind stacks of boxes, packed with paper petitions urging the Governor to veto SB 3.

The news conference featured hemp industry leaders from all sectors, including hemp farmer Colton Luther. While he acknowledged he will still be able to grow hemp, he said his fields are currently empty because he’s uncertain of this year’s demand if SB 3 goes through.

Hours later in the Capitol extension, concerned parents voiced their support for SB 3. The group Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas shared stories warning about the dangers posed by THC products now sold in stores.

“What began as a harmless habit, quickly spiraled into a mental health crisis,” one mother said at the podium. “He became paranoid, delusional, and convinced the CIA and Illuminati were following him.”

“In our state, the combination of alcohol and cannabis is the most common drug combination in impaired driving crashes in our state as well. And young drivers are particularly at risk,” the group’s CEO Nicole Holt said. She noted that many of those crashes kill young people.

The group also invited Republican lawmaker David Lowe, a war veteran. Some veterans organizations have voiced opposition to the THC ban. Rep. Lowe, R-Fort Worth backs the ban.

“I’m deeply troubled that veterans are being used as props,” Lowe said. “I believe passing Senate Bill three is one of the greatest accomplishments of this legislative session, and I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for his strong, steady leadership when it mattered most.”

However, the Texas VFW says Lowe does not speak for them.

“That’s one veteran’s opinion. I have written consent that I speak for 64,000 veterans in Texas, not just one.” Walden added. He told reporters that THC products have helped him.

“Like thousands of us, I went through the government’s solution — a never ending parade of pills: Vicodin, Valium, Tramadol, Neurontin, antidepressants, sleeping pills, the list goes on and on. Those drugs nearly destroyed me,” Walden said.

“Legal hemp-derived consumable THC gummies brought me back,” Walden added.

“It is one of literally more than a thousand bills on my desk…I will give all of those pieces of legislation the consideration and time that they deserve,” Abbott replied.

When pressed on the question, the governor was more direct.

“Very nice twist to the question, you’re still not going to get an answer,” Abbott said.

If he signs the bill, Texas would join a list of three states which have banned hemp-derived THC products entirely, though two of the three — California and Washington — have otherwise legalized marijuana for recreational use. The governor has until June 22 to decide if SB 3 will become law.