December 20, 2012 7:28 PM

JERRY PATTERSON PROMISES VOTE IN JANUARY ON $150M TRANSFER TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

But he's unrepentant on August decision not to transfer $300 million; lawmakers caught flat footed by School Land Board's decision take out their displeasure on Patterson

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson told the House Appropriations Committee that he would schedule a vote next month on transferring $150 million in General Land Office-managed funds to the Available School Fund.

At the same time, he defended the decision in August not to transfer $300 million, an action authorized by voters in the November 2011 constitutional amendment election. The School Land Board’s decision caught lawmakers flatfooted because they wrote that $300 million into the budget with the expectation that the transfer would be authorized.

The transfer not happening created a $300 million shortfall in the Foundation School Program for the current fiscal year. That must be made up somehow, one way being through the supplemental appropriations bill to be considered by the Legislature early next session.

By John Reynolds