Recapture funding will be a priority for district officials this year. Informally known as Robin Hood, recapture is the term for the money the state collects from property-rich districts for redistribution to property-poor districts.
LISD receives state revenue in the general fund, but with the current formula, the recapture payment on the expenditure side exceeds said state revenue, Chief Financial Officer Paige Meloni said during the meeting.
LISD’s estimated recapture payment for this school year is $54 million. The state is projected to collect $3 billion in recapture funds from 160 school districts, including LISD, Superintendent Lori Rapp said.
“Anytime that staff reaches out to me and we talk about what can we do in terms of compensation increases and what can we do to support the school district, my first point is join me in advocating with our elected officials that we need to keep more of our local tax dollars in Lewisville ISD,” she said.
Other district priorities include advocating for increases in funding to support the transition to fully online state assessments and educational equity, according to the agenda item.
This year’s legislative session began Jan. 10. The last day of the regular session is May 29. The veto deadline is June 18.
“We’re going to do everything we can to educate our community about what our district is facing with recapture,” Rapp said. “Our district faces a hurdle that neighboring districts do not face with the recapture payment that we have.”
