The Texas Department of Public Safety wants to spend close to a billion dollars on border security.

The department budget request submitted this week asks state lawmakers for around $300 million for border security, that’s in addition to the $800 million Texas sent DPS last year.

If approved in the 2017 legislative session, the boost in funding would drive up the state’s total cost for border security to around $1 billion for two years.

“It’s a huge unfunded responsibility to take on,” said Eva Deluna-Castro, a budget analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP).

The expensive request raised some concerns for Deluna-Castro, who said more money for border security could mean a drop in state funding for education.

“What the next budget is talking about is $2 billion dollars less for schools in order to come up with the money that goes to DPS,” Deluna-Castro said. “But again, local property taxes go up to make up for that.”

According to Deluna-Castro, $1 billion could hire 10,000 new teachers in the state or boost the Department of Health and Human Services budget by 35 percent.

“It’s a tradeoff, once you spend the money on border security it’s not available for other purposes,” Deluna-Castro said.

According to the budget request, the more than $290 million would pay to put an additional 250 troopers and 5,000 cameras on the border. DPS also wants to replace more than 1,200 vehicles and half a dozen aircrafts.

The Director of DPS, Steve McCraw testified at a House Appropriations Committee hearing last month where he discussed the price of border security and the progress the department has made in the last year.

“There’s none of this part time stuff,” McCraw said, “The cartels are very good, they’ve flooded spies and scouts into the area, they know when we are on the bridges and they know when we’re not.”

Back in July, McCraw explained border security requires round the clock patrols to stop smugglers and curb illegal immigration.

At CPPP, Deluna-Castro said, “We hear a lot about the reason for the pressure on schools being because there are so many immigrants here but immigrants pay the same taxes we all do so that’s really not the issue.”

Sales tax supports half of the state’s general revenue fund, the rest comes from other general taxes like motor vehicle tax, insurance tax and sales taxes on specific items like alcohol and cigarettes.

“Taxes we all pay, that’s the main thing we have to understand,” McCraw said.

Texas’ border security program is the nation’s largest and most expensive state-funded initiative of its kind.

More than 1,200 miles long, the Texas-Mexico border makes up the bulk of the U.S. Mexico border. State officials have criticized the federal government’s efforts at the border as ineffective, which is why some argue the state needs to spend more.

Texas lawmakers will take up the budget request when legislatures convene in January.