Texas Senate advances scaled-back school finance plan

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has advanced a once-sweeping school finance plan, but only after scaling it back so much that it will only offer about $500 million in extra funding for some school districts statewide and teacher retirement.
The House passed its original, far more ambitious $1.8 billion bill during the regular and special legislative sessions.
The Senate has repeatedly rejected that plan, which the chamber’s leader, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, called a “Ponzi sc