School_Finance

__**Three Most Significant Moments on Texas Education History**__

While there have been many significant moments since 1824 in Texas’ education history, three moments stand out as particularly important. The first one occurred during the Republic of Texas with the establishment of land for universities. These land grants eventually became Texas A&M University and the University of Texas, and with the establishment of these two flagship schools, the state of Texas was able to give students in the state two institutions of higher learning that previously did not exist.  The most significant moment in Texas’ education history began in 1947 with the establishment of the Gilmer-Aiken committee and later the Gilmer-Aiken laws passed in 1949. These laws decreased the total number of school districts in the state of Texas, but more significantly established a school calendar, raised teacher salaries, and the State Board of Education was established. These changes solidified the public education system and gave in the foundation to grow to the levels it is at today.  A third significant occurrence is really more of a serious of occurrences beginning in the late 1960’s with Edgewood ISD. When a parent coalition in Edgewood sued San Antonio ISD, 5 other districts, and the State of Texas on the grounds of lack of equity in school funding, the era of the courts playing a significant role in the state of education began. While that law suit failed, the case ultimately led to the current financial system in the state of Texas commonly referred to as Robin Hood (Senate Bill 1). The redistribution, or recapture, of money from property rich districts (Chapter 41) to property poor districts (Chapter 42) is intended to bring equity to the thousands of school districts in the state of Texas. Funding, however, in many cases still proves to be less than significant and several legislative battles in the past 20 years have been fought over ways to lessen funding gaps and properly fund school, pay teachers, and provide for the best education possible for students in the state of Texas.

__**Three Issues with the current State Education Funding Formula **__  The 2 major components of the state formula are property taxes from the local school district and monies from the state general revenue funds. How to make these monies equal are a huge issue and have been the source of law suits since the late 1960’s in the state of Texas. One major issue in this formula is the discrepancy in local property taxes and led to the current “Robin Hood” system of funding. This essentially takes from the rich (Chapter 41) and gives to the poor (Chapter 42). Of course a second major issues emerges from that idea; what defines a rich school district and where is the line that leads to a poor school district? Why should tax payers in College Station ISD, a Chapter 41 district, have their money go to another school district instead of having their hard earned money go to their own children? Knowing this has led to less tax increases for school districts as these districts know their money will just be recaptured and sent to other districts.  The third issue is at the state level. Texas faces a $17 billion shortfall in their ’11-12 budget, and as a result of that, increase in public education funding is not only unlikely, a cut is very probably. With a push for equality in districts, this cut will make such a goal nearly impossible unless that equal status is simply at an adequate level for every school district. Currently, CSISD gets $5700 per students; next year, that could be $4760. While that is adequate according to the state, that represents a huge cut for CSISD and a major obstacle that must be dealt with immediately.


 * __Equality, Equity, and Adequacy __**

Equality is defined as every student having the same access to the same type of basic educational programming. An example of equal spending for districts would be each district in the state having the same amount of money to spend on math materials to prepare for the TAKS test. This would also apply to any other subject area being tested from grades 3 through 11.  Equity is defined as a system that is fair and responds to the needs of the individual student. Special program funding represents a type of equity funding. The types of equity funding varies, but includes monies for economically disadvantaged students, students in the Gifted and Talented program, and money for Career and Technology education.  Adequacy means each school district receives financial support good enough to create basic school programs and success for each student. Each district receives at least $4,670 per student to assure that students receive an adequate education. Funds are also provided to assure that teacher salaries are adequate and textbook costs aren’t too much for districts to handle.