Texas' merit pay proposal is dead for now, due to the Longhorn lawmakers' inability to figure out how to cut school property tax rates while simultaneously raising school funding-a feat that only Texans might have thought they could pull off. Texas' two chambers had proposed a statewide merit pay program that would have rewarded teachers at schools with disadvantaged students and given districts money to form additional merit pay programs. Lawmakers may get to continue to hammer out a compromise, if Governor Rick Perry calls them back to Austin for a special session on school finance.