The Texas Educational Trainwreck

[Updates below.]

Education cost study under way

Texas' 1,040 public school districts should soon know how much it costs for an "average" education in their district, academic researchers said Thursday.

[...]

The study is important because once lawmakers know how much it costs for an average education in Texas, they can develop a tax structure to pay for it.

© 1995-2004 The E.W. Scripps Co. and the Abilene Reporter-News.

State to set per-student costs

Putting a price tag on the cost of an adequate education could become a double-edge sword, Clint Independent School District Superintendent Donna Smith said Thursday.

A large number would make it even more financially difficult for lawmakers, who want to reduce school property taxes and end the "Robin Hood" system that forces wealthy school districts to share with property-poor districts.

"If they come back with a very high number that we can't (afford), then what do we do?" Smith asked.

[...]

"They might say, 'We'll give you what's adequate, and if you have the resources and ability to raise more, then go ahead,' " she said.

Property-poor school districts, including all nine in El Paso County, could not get as much extra "enrichment" money as wealthy districts could.

Each penny of such an enrichment tax would raise about $11 for every student in the El Paso Independent School District and less than $2 for every San Elizario student.

Taxpayers making the same effort in the Alamo Heights (San Antonio) district would raise $56 per student with every penny of tax rate, while the same taxing effort would produce $114 per student in the Highland Park district.

Clint spent $6,589 per student last year, or $499 below the state average, according to the Texas Education Agency. That amounts to a $4.3 million difference for the 8,572-student district.

"That's nearly 50 classrooms" and teachers, Smith said. "That's like more than a campus in my district. And that just brings us up to the average."

[...]

The school funding problem is considered acute because more than half of the state's 1,041 school districts have reached the tax cap for operations and maintenance.

Shapiro said Republican leaders want to generate more money for public education but link it to incentives and school performance results.

Copyright © 2004 El Paso Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper.

Gov. Perry wants to tie school funds to performance

Lawmakers are studying school finance to prepare for a special session, which Gov. Rick Perry is expected to call this spring.

State leaders said they are waiting for a report due in March that should advise the state on how much it needs to spend on education. No one yet knows what the report will recommend.

But Gov. Rick Perry seemed to put himself at odds with the rest of the state leadership when he said last week that schools would get no new money when the Legislature reforms the way the state pays for public schools.

Perry revised his message this week. The governor supports incentive programs but doesn't want to give schools a blank check, said Robert Black, a spokesman for Perry.

[...]

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, didn't rule out adding new money to the education system. But she said new money should be tied to student achievement.

"What the schools want are new dollars, and what we would like to see is some system put in place so new dollars are tied to performance," Shapiro said. "And that's what we are trying to create at this moment in time."

When Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst proposed his school finance plan last year, it didn't increase funding for schools. But that's not an indication that Dewhurst doesn't support giving schools more money, said Mark Miner, Dewhurst's press secretary.

"He's talking about if we give schools more money, it needs to be combined with accountability and performance," Miner said.

© 1995-2004 The E.W. Scripps Co. and the Abilene Reporter-News.

State lawmakers are awaiting cost of 'adequate' education

Shapiro, R-Dallas, said an extensive report by Texas A&M University and University of Kansas researchers will be delivered to the Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance she co-chairs in time for the panel's next meeting, set for Feb. 19.

But what state leaders will do with the figure and how they will fund public education still is the looming question, said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, a member of the panel.

"We have to be careful what we ask for," Van de Putte said after the panel's hearing on Thursday.

"Once we know how much it is going to cost, what happens then? Especially if the political will is not there" to provide that level of funding, she asked.

Van de Putte said there is a concern that the state would be sued "if we were not to fund at the 'adequate' level," which she said is a legal term, adding, "If we are told, by our own consultants, what the funding level should be, are we then obligated to fund at that level and are we legally liable if we do not?"

Portions © 2004 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News.

Lawmakers awaiting report of cost of adequate education

Under the current system, schools in wealthy property districts are required to share part of their property tax revenues with poor districts. Lawmakers are looking for alternative sources of revenue that will help ease the burden on property owners.

A group of wealthy and poor districts have signed on to a lawsuit, scheduled to go to trial in July, suing the state over the so-called Robin Hood school finance system.

© 2004 Star Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

*drum roll*

Joint Committee on Public School Finance:

Public education is arguably the state's most vital responsibility. Regardless of political, ethnic or economic background, everyone should agree that a quality education is the key to our students' future in an increasingly competitive global economy. The Texas public education system faces severe challenges. In particular, the current school finance system relies too heavily on local property taxes. Already, half of our nearly 1,100 school districts levy taxes at or near the statutory cap of $1.50 for Maintenance and Operations. Moreover, the current school finance system was developed with little consideration of the costs of achieving the state's educational goals.

The Joint Committee on Public School Finance was created by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick to address this critical issue. The Committee is charged to recommend innovative ways that the Legislature might fulfill its obligation to public education, while reducing the reliance on local property taxes.

The Joint Committee's charges included reviewing our tax system and assessing different options for public school funding. The committee and its highly skilled research team will be studying the entire public school enterprise, including appropriate funding levels for high academic performance; adjustments for legitimate student and school district cost differences; the role of the state in providing school facilities; and incentives for improved student performance and cost-effective operation. In addition, the committee and its researchers will investigate school and district practices that contribute to high academic performance and cost-effective operation.

As a result of its work, the Joint Committee on Public School Finance hopes to ensure that Texas taxpayers receive the maximum value for their money and that all Texas students have access to a quality education that enables them to participate fully in the social, economic, and educational opportunities of our state.

I've made my position fairly clear on the issue of how to finance Texas' public schools. Ideally:

1. Education is a choice for parents and children to make. Since it is such an important and personal choice, the state should have as little to do with it as possible. That means amending the Texas Constitution and ridding it of any education obligations and ending the federal government's role entirely.
   
2. Just as I shouldn't have to pay for someone else's burger if they are hungry and just as someone shouldn't have to pay for a new pair of glasses if mine break...we shouldn't have to finance other people's education. In this regard, vouchers are only a small step in the right direction, freeing people to pick the public schools they want their children to go to, but still using tax money to do it.
   
3. If all else fails and Texans are simply unwilling to bear the responsibilities and burdens of a fully privatized educational system, I'd prefer a reliance or an increase in sales taxes over the imposition of a state income tax. This is my last resort option.

Well, not really. I could always decamp for a different state and ensure that any education I might want, be it for myself or a future family, be privately funded. Wash my hands of the entire affair and let everyone else get themselves dirtier and dirtier.

I work with Texas public school districts. I'm aware of how bad it is out there. I see no major movement towards the only solution that I think is best: schools should charge their students directly for the services they provide. Let uninhibited choices guide the creation of a free market in education.

UPDATE(4:05pm)
Here's an example of exactly the wrong kind of thinking:

Lawmakers are looking at measures to raise more money for education. They include video gambling, $1 a pack tax hike on cigarettes, and a split tax roll that would tax residential property at lower rates than business property.

There may be an emerging consensus on cigarette taxes and video lottery, Rep. Don Branch, R-Highland Park, said. While Perry has opposed any expansion of gambling, an aide said he consider any option other than a state income tax. A $1 a pack tax hike on cigarettes could raise about $987 million in revenue. The split roll property tax may not be a viable option in a Legislature controlled by Republicans.

It's unfortunate the debate is being restricted before the session begins. Everything should be on the table, including a state income tax. We need a better way to finance education. Schools need more money; and it should come from the state, not from local taxpayers. We must also be careful in reforming the school-finance system that we don't sacrifice the principles of equity.

© 2004 Texas Scripps Newspapers, L.P. A Scripps Howard newspaper. All Rights Reserved

It's an editorial from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Obviously, I take issue with the notion of additional cigarette taxes (shouldn't be a special one on them in the first place), inequity in property taxation (stop abusing businesses because they are businesses!), state income taxes, reducing local responsibility for wanted services and burdening the whole state with financing them and finally, placing wholesale faith and credit in the hands of government to determine what's right for our children.

UPDATE(3/5/2004 10:55am)
The report has been released.

UPDATE(4/9/2004 12:49pm)
Oppose all state income tax plans!

UPDATE(4/28/2004 9:25am)
The proposed solutions for Texas school financing aren't any better.

UPDATE(5/4/2004 9:10am)
I did some quick 'n dirty educational cost calculations of my own.

Posted by Drizzten at January 27, 2004 08:06 AM