Fighting for Our Students and Teachers
April 28, 2023
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, Mike Kelly (R-PA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, Danny K. Davis (D-IL), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support, and Adrian Smith (R-NE), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, introduced bipartisan legislation to remove a financial and logistical barrier impairing students from securing higher education opportunities. The Tax Free Pell Grants Act expands the usage of Pell Grants on a tax-free basis, improves coordination with the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), and ensures students do not lose out on any AOTC benefits.
March 17, 2023
Austin, T.X. – On Tuesday, March 21st, at 10 AM, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, will join Austin ISD educational leaders at St. Elmo Elementary School to unveil details of two brand-new projects, the funding for which Rep. Doggett secured, to create outdoor learning spaces and to launch a college and career preparation pilot.
February 8, 2023
Washington, D.C. – After Texans across the state voted for increased school construction funding this November, an outdated federal limit being reached right now is driving up financing costs, diverting taxpayer dollars away from building new classrooms and renovating outdated facilities and towards servicing higher interest rates. To meet this issue with action, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) has now introduced the Keeping Texas School Construction Costs Down Act (H.R. 32), joined by co-lead Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Lubbock).
January 17, 2023
A Texas Permanent School Fund bond program this month rejected an Austin school district request to act as its guarantor for school bonds the district scheduled to sell Wednesday, in its first of several planned sales over the next six years to pay for projects voters approved in a $2.4 billion bond package in November.
December 5, 2022
A state-backed program that for decades has helped school districts get the lowest interest rates possible on bonds is about to reach its limit — and if it does, districts might find themselves having to ask for more money from taxpayers.
October 13, 2022
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), U.S. Representative Jodey Arrington (R-Lubbock), and a bipartisan group of 24 other Texas members of Congress pressed the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to make a necessary update to a federal administrative exemption that allows Texas to continue to support cost-effective school construction in the state—and avert a potential November 2022 cutoff of funding which could cost school districts hundreds of millions of dollars.
June 7, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin ISD is set to receive some major federal funding to help cover what it spent on COVID-19 safety measures.
June 7, 2022
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) announced that Austin Independent School District has just been awarded over $5.5 million in federal funding to reimburse the costs the district took on for emergency protective measures as a result of COVID-19. This will reimburse the district for their spending to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectant and cleaning supplies, equipment to facilitate social distancing, outdoor screening and testing sites for students and staff, and more.
March 22, 2022
Austin, TX – U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), Chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, announced today that he has secured $700,000 in federal appropriations for the new Austin Community College-Austin PBS Educational Media Center in a bill just signed into law by President Biden.
January 10, 2022
After the pandemic disrupted education and the workplace, enrollment in schools dipped, particularly in kindergarten and preschool, as parents opted to keep their kids at home.