Analyzing+School+Finance+Issues+in+Two+Texas+Districts

Revenue per WADA@Compressed Rate District 1- $5044 District 2- $7206

Target Revenue for M&O Fund District 1- $28,023,530.86 District 2- $34,546,111.66

Teachers, Librarians, Nurses, and Counselors District 1- 281 District 2- 307

Looking at the numbers in this question shows district 2 with a much larger target revenue for its M&O fund ($34,546, 111.66) as compared to district 1 ($28,023,530.86). This number was reached by multiplying the WADA figure for each district, discussed in the previous question, with the WADA@Compresed Rate figure for each district ($5044 for district 1 and $7206 for district 2). The additional funding seen here for district 2 has also led to it having a larger staff, with 307 teachers, librarians, nurses, and counselors as compared to 281 in district 1.

These numbers actually contradict what we would expect to see after running the numbers for weighted average daily attendance. Looking at WADA, we would have expected there to have been more teachers, librarians, nurses, and counselors in district 1 to meet the needs of a population of students with more educational needs. However, through the “hold harmless” provision, district 2 may have been able to hold on to more of its local and state funding as opposed to having more of it distributed to districts similar to district 1. If the goal of WADA is to provide additional staff and resources for district 1, than the state formula has actually failed in this case. This leads to an argument over “recapture” and ‘Held harmless” and the value and merit of each of these ideas. The argument from the Chapter 41 school side would certainly give merit to the idea of “held harmless”, as more of the local tax money would stay in that district and not be sent to other districts. This makes a great deal of sense and would certainly be supported by most tax payers in that school district, especially in these very difficult budget times in the state of Texas. However, in the chapter 42 districts, who are affected by the same difficult budget times as the rest of the state without the same sources of local income, this make teaching a population similar to district 1 even more difficult than it already has been.