Montgomery ISD announced the district would postpone the opening of Lincoln Elementary School, which was scheduled to open for the 2017-18 school year at the former Montgomery Intermediate School campus, the district announced on Monday.
The decision to postpone the opening was made after the district was notified by the Texas Education Agency that it would have to pay $3.5 million from its 2017-18 school year budget to the state in the process known as recapture, or the Robin Hood act. The amount represents about 5 percent of the district’s operating budget, the district said in a statement.
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Two Houston-area lawmakers filed bills in the state Legislature this session that could dramatically change how public school districts—including Conroe, Montgomery and Willis ISDs—receive funding from the state.
House Bill 21, filed by Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, was passed by the Texas House of Representatives on April 20—just one year after more than 600 school districts challenged the public school funding formula in the Texas Supreme Court and it was ruled constitutional.
Huberty said HB 21 is the first step in a multisession process to reform public school funding.
“By increasing funding for schools, we can improve instruction and reduce the need for higher property taxes,” said Huberty, who serves as chairman of the House Public Education Committee.
However, the bill could face a challenge in the Texas Senate, which has a different plan: Senate Bill 2145.
Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who authored SB 2145, said HB 21 uses money from the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund—better known as the Rainy Day Fund—to cover costs.
The Rainy Day Fund sets aside excess revenue for unexpected shortfalls. Taylor said he believes the fund should be tapped for one-time expenses only.
“You don’t use your credit card to keep spending when your income is down,” Taylor said.
As of press time, SB 2145 is left pending in committee. Although it is not likely to pass this session, Taylor is pushing to work aspects of his bill into HB 21.
After HB 21 was received by the Senate, its fate may have been jeopardized in changes made during a May 11 Senate Committee on Education hearing. In the hearing, Taylor presented a committee substitute that added a provision to the bill that caused it to lose the support of many public education advocates.
The revised bill would divert state funding from public education toward subsidizing private school tuition for students with special needs.
As of press time, HB 21 is being heard before the full Senate. If passed by the Senate, it will go back to the House, where representatives will get a chance to consider the changes made by the Senate.
The two state bodies have until May 29—when this legislative session ends—to reach a compromise on public school funding unless a special session is called to reconcile the differences.
Bill breakdown
HB 21 adjusts the funding formula for public schools and allots an additional $1.65 billion for public education over the next two years.
Conroe, Montgomery and Willis ISDs could receive $4.5 million, $2.1 million and $619,000 more in state funding, respectively in fiscal year 2018, if the bill is signed into law than they would under the existing formula, according to the Texas Legislative Budget Board—a joint legislative committee that completes fiscal analyses for proposed legislation.
“It’s important to increase school funding by more than a billion dollars, because in 2011 the funding was slashed due to the recession,” Huberty’s Legislative Director Molly Spratt said.
This bill also lowers recapture payments from school districts by approximately $173 million in 2018 and $205 million in 2019, Spratt said. Recapture, known as the “Robin Hood” plan, was first introduced in 1993 as a way to divert tax revenue from property wealthy school districts to property poor districts, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Although Conroe and Willis ISDs are unaffected by recapture, Montgomery ISD has paid the state more than $9.7 million since 2004, MISD Superintendent Beau Rees said.
“[HB 21] reduces the amount of recapture the district has to pay, so that’s a positive for [HB 21],” he said.
Local implications
CISD would receive an additional $4.5 million next year with the passage of HB 21. Districts can use funds from HB 21 for student-related matters, such as addressing cost-of-living increases and student population growth, CISD Superintendent Don Stockton said.
However, CISD Chief Financial Officer Darrin Rice said the district would also lose some money because of changes made to the district’s transportation allotment from the state.
The current formula for transportation allotments takes into consideration the number of students in a district and the number of miles they ride to and from school each day, Stockton said. Under HB 21, districts are instead given a flat $125 per student.
CISD receives $7.2 million dollars per year from the state in transportation funding, and the district spends a total of nearly $21 million per year on transportation costs, Stockton said. Under the HB 21 formula, CISD would receive about $200,000 less than before.
“In our case, because we have so many students riding so many miles, $125 per student doesn’t cover it,” he said.Willis ISD Superintendent Tim Harkrider said HB 21 would increase the basic allotment per student by $210 to $5,350, but he said the affects of state funding changes on the district would be challenging to foresee until the Legislature reaches a final agreement.
“Until a final amount is approved, we can’t say how that would impact the district,” Harkrider said.
Regardless, Rees said he is pleased with the House’s willingness to address public education funding and make a change for the future.
“We certainly welcome the effort and believe that anything we can do to address the shortcomings of the current finance system is a step in the right direction,” Rees said.
Additional reporting by Emily Donaldson and Hannah Zedaker.
