Educational Policy, Ethics, & Leadership

Whew! They Made It

That's the title of an editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the special legislative session's school funding fix.  LINK

Still, in a lengthy filing of their own, the attorneys for the school districts made it clear that they still are not happy with the amount of money that the state devotes to education.

That's the part that probably means it's only a matter of time before all of this goes back to court again.

School Finance Mandate Dissolved

That's the title of the report in today's Houston Chronicle regarding the lawsuit that forced the legislature to deal with public school finance funding.  LINK

A state district judge Thursday dissolved an injunction in a five-year-old school finance case, removing the threat that schools could lose funding June 1.

Judge John Dietz of Travis County signed the order in response to a motion filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. The motion said the Legislature fixed constitutional deficiencies in the school finance system during the special session that ended this month.

This may not be the end of the story, however, according to an attorney representing a group of school districts that sued the state over funding allocations.

The districts did not oppose the motion to halt the injunction. But they warned that their position "should not be construed as a wholehearted endorsement of the legislation or an admission that the school finance system is on firm constitutional footing going forward."

Dallas Morning News coverage is here.

Easier Said Than Done

That's the title of today's lead editorial in the Houston Chronicle on the school funding fix passed by the legislature.  LINK

In a visit with the Chronicle editorial board this week, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst devoted much of his presentation to touting the improvements to public education to be funded by the new state school finance plan, which includes an expanded business tax and reductions in school property taxes.

Dewhurst acknowledged the predictions of Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and the Legislative Budget Board that the revamped business tax and one-dollar hike in the levy on cigarettes may leave the state confronting shortfalls of nearly $25 billion over five years. According to the lieutenant governor, the plan will consume the current state surplus of $8 billion.

More Aftermath of Session

Also in the Dallas Morning News today is a fact check on a political ad being run by Governor Rick Perry touting the accomplishments of the recent special legislative session on school finance.  LINK

Teacher pay: The $2,000 teacher pay raise is well below what educators were hoping for. It is their first state salary hike in six years. And teacher pay raises and money for schools were not part of Mr. Perry's plan but were added at the insistence of the Senate.

The Legislative Session

We have two views on the recently concluded special legislative session on school finance, both from today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

First, the editorial, "Good grade on the test."  LINK

Last week, legislators finally acted, completing another special session and offering up a powerful response to the Supreme Court's order. And, surprisingly, they did more than what the court required. They made fundamental changes to the school finance system -- changes that could ease the way to further improvements -- and even started the process of making Texas public education better.

There are flaws in what they did -- possibly even serious problems, when it comes to balancing the state budget in the next few years. And much more work remains to be done to ensure that Texas children get the kind of education they must have to ensure a brighter future for themselves and for the state economy.

The Star-Telegram also has an OpEd by State Rep. Elliott Naishtat of Austin, "In case you were wondering ...."  LINK

Notably absent from the Republican leadership's self-congratulatory comments regarding the recently completed special session on public school finance were any references to the fact that, because of the leadership's inaction, more than 1.3 million senior citizens and people with disabilities in Texas will receive little or no property tax relief.

What the Texas Legislature Did

The Texas Legislature has completed its special session to "fix" public school funding.  Texas was operating under a delayed order by the Texas Supreme Court requiring modifications to modify the old system.  Though the package of changes was approved by wide margins in the Texas House and Senate, what really happened?

Clay Robison, a long-time Capitol observer and Bureau Chief of the Houston Chronicle has a column in today's paper.  LINK

The most significant change — besides the new business tax — was in revising how education funding is shared by the state and local taxpayers.

By raising state taxes and cutting local property taxes for school operations by about one-third (in most districts) over the next two years, the Legislature took a major step toward returning the biggest share of education funding to the state, where it belongs.

The more that education funding is based upon the wealth of the state as a whole, rather than on local taxpayers, the greater the potential equity among school districts and the fairer the overall system.

Many question, however, whether the state is spending enough on education.

The Dallas Morning News lead editorial today is "Austin Scorecard." The subtitle is "The special session's bottom line."  LINK

Bexar County School Board Presidents Speak Out

The Texas Legislature has just concluded a special session to deal with public school finance.  We'll be posting more analysis of exactly what the legislators did, but today's San Antonio Express-News reports that the presidents of school boards in Bexar County spoke in unison yesterday.  LINK

The board presidents called on legislators to do four things in the future:

Establish a minimum amount for per-student spending that is enough to produce well-rounded students.

Allocate more money for students who are more costly to educate, such as low-income and special-education students.

Eliminate property tax rate caps that would prevent districts from raising enough revenue to expand programs or be innovative.

Revise per-student spending every two to four years to keep pace with the increased costs of education.

Barring unforeseen circumstances the Texas Legislature will not meet again until January 2007.