Prop 1 could see $850 million invested towards technical education

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas voters will decide whether to increase funding for state vocational education on Tuesday. 

Proposition 1, a state constitutional amendment, if passed would create a dedicated investment fund to support the growth of the Texas State Technical College (TSTC).

TSTC has 11 campuses across Central and North Texas in addition to online courses. It has programs in fields ranging from automotive engineering to HVAC to welding, and enrolled over 16,000 students in 2021, the most recent year TSTC enrollment data is available. 

TSTC officials said these current numbers do not meet the demand for technical workers in the state of Texas.

Joe Arnold, the deputy vice chancellor in government relations for TSTC, estimates there are over one million open technician positions in Texas.

“Even if we quadruple our output (of graduates), there would still be a skills gap in Texas,” Arnold told KXAN in October.

Prop 1 would create the Technical Institution Infrastructure Fund (TIFF), a TSTC endowment. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts would then transfer $850 million from the state’s general fund to the new account.

Prop 1 would also create the Available Workforce Education Fund (AWEF). 

A portion of revenue generated from TIFF each year would go towards AWEF, but that fund can only be used for capital projects. That means AWEF dollars cannot be used to pay for TSTC’s salaries or utility bills; it’s instead marked for infrastructure like new land, equipment or building renovations.

Opponents of Prop 1, like the Texas Policy Project, a nonpartisan public policy organization, argue that funding such an endowment could undermine the state’s authority. 

Though they support Texas opening up more opportunities in workforce education, the nonprofit writes that Prop 1 would create a “preferred funding mechanism” in the state’s constitution and undermine government oversight and transparency.

The nonprofit added that it hopes to instead see a different approach with a “normal” level of government oversight to better hold institutions like TSTC accountable.