By R.J. Morales | TX3DNews.com
State leaders in Austin and Washington love to brag about “balancing budgets” and “cutting waste.” Sounds good, right? Except in Collin County, residents are quickly discovering who picks up the tab for all those catchy political slogans. Spoiler alert: it’s not the lobbyists dining at fancy steakhouses in the Capitol.
With Texas sitting on a historic $18 billion surplus, you’d think we’d see investments in schools, healthcare, or infrastructure. Instead, we’re getting school closures, Medicaid budget gymnastics, and property tax bills that rise even when your home’s value barely budges. Welcome to Texas budgeting 101: “saving money” by making you pay more locally.
What Got Cut This Time?
Let’s start simple: The Texas House approved a hefty-sounding $337 billion budget for 2024–25. Yet hidden within that number is a $70 million Medicaid shell game, moving funds from healthcare services to a feel-good program named “Thriving Texas Families.” Nice name, but good luck convincing a parent stuck on a six-month waitlist for pediatric care.
At the national level, Republicans introduced the grandly titled “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.” It promises to permanently extend Trump-era tax cuts—but quietly plans to slice $715 billion from Medicaid over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office warns this could boot 8.6 million Americans off healthcare, hitting hardest in states like Texas, which already leads the nation in uninsured children.
Collin County Schools: Do More with Less (and Less Again)
You don’t need a finance degree to grasp the local impacts. Just ask your local school board.
- Plano ISD faces a staggering $27.5 million shortfall for the 2025–26 school year, closing four schools to balance its books, all while sending millions back to Austin via the infamous “Robin Hood” recapture system.
- Allen ISD has already trimmed $8 million by not replacing administrative roles, and now another $6–8 million in cuts loom on the horizon. Yes, that could mean fewer classroom resources and campus programs.
- Even Frisco ISD, the so-called gold standard, is tightening its belt by trimming travel budgets—say goodbye to those prestigious out-of-town competitions that parents and students cherish.
- In Princeton ISD, property tax rates were slightly reduced, yet due to rising property values, homeowners saw their bills climb anyway. Less of a tax “cut,” more of a tax shuffle.
Property Tax Relief: The Great Illusion
You’ve probably heard state leaders bragging about delivering historic property tax relief. But let’s break down what that really looks like in Collin County:
Property values jumped by an average of 2.9% last year, so even though the county’s tax rate didn’t budge, your tax bill likely did. Didn’t file your homestead exemption? Congratulations—you’ve officially paid more for the same (or fewer) services.
In Princeton ISD, the district did lower the rate, but for the average homeowner, the actual savings amounted to a whopping… $2.30 per $100,000 home valuation. Time to splurge.
Need Healthcare? Good Luck with That.
Texas is still #1 at something: uninsured kids. Nearly 12% of children statewide lack coverage. Many qualify but never get enrolled, thanks to red tape thicker than Texas BBQ sauce.
Meanwhile, Texas still refuses full Medicaid expansion, leaving billions in federal aid on the table. With new federal proposals to slash Medicaid further, healthcare access—especially in suburban and rural areas—isn’t getting easier. If your local ER is jammed or pediatric specialists won’t take new patients, you’re feeling exactly what those budget “savings” really cost.
Keith Self’s Fiscal “Responsibility”
Rep. Keith Self of TX-03 made it clear he’s voting “no” on the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”—not because it cuts too much from healthcare, but because he thinks it doesn’t cut enough. He calls for greater fiscal discipline, though his definition oddly aligns with tax cuts for the wealthy and Medicaid cuts for the rest.
When asked directly about impacts like Plano ISD’s school closures or Allen’s potential campus cuts, Self’s responses remain notably sparse. At a recent town hall in Wylie, a constituent challenged him about Medicaid cuts, and Self deflected with some lofty rhetoric about federalism. That moment caught fire online for all the wrong reasons.
The Bottom Line: Someone Always Pays
Budget cuts don’t eliminate costs—they shift them. From state coffers to school districts, from wealthy districts to working-class families, from government-funded care to overwhelmed ERs, the bill always lands somewhere.
So, the next time your kid’s school cancels a field trip, your neighbor struggles with Medicaid renewals, or your city delays road repairs yet again, just remember: that’s what “budget discipline” really looks like in practice. Collin County is learning the hard way that when Austin or Washington promises savings, it’s local taxpayers who cover the tab.
Sources:
-
Texas Tribune, House budget details
-
Congressional Budget Office, Medicaid impact report
-
Plano ISD and Allen ISD public budget documents
-
KERA News, Plano school closures
-
Public Health Watch, Uninsured children in Texas
- Allen ISD
- Princeton Herald
-
Collin County 2024–25 Budget Documents
TX3DNews.com is committed to factual, independent reporting. All figures and policy details in this article are sourced from official public records, government documents, and publicly available news outlets. We welcome corrections and comments at contact@tx3dnews.com.
Rep. Keith Self’s office did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication