I just wrote a 23 page report on Texas school finance

[Maestro]

Since the idiotic Legislature won't fix it, I researched different ways. Anybody want some nighttime reading let me know. I may put it on-line at my new webiste once it is redesigned. Also check out my new sig by one of my favorite pubic school advocates.

Here is a snippet from my report.

From Politics to Progress,
What Alternatives Are Left?

Texas school finance has been a highly contentious issue since the days after World War II and its polemic nature shows no sign of dissipating soon. School finance in Texas works under several competing core values: adequacy, equity, efficiency, legitimacy and liberty. The different concepts cause lawmakers to balance local control issues with the idea that children in Texas need a sufficient level funding through a fair distribution of resources. Moreover, all of this must be realized in such a way to produce maximum effect with minimal effort and still it must appear reasonable to the constituents of the state. This is an extremely difficult and arduous task to undertake. The battle for education funding has been a long, hard road, and for the foreseeable future, it will continue...

There will also have to be a paradigm shift in thinking regarding taxation in the state. Its citizens must realize that even though there is no state income tax, the citizenry is simply being taxed in other ways that in effect are more regressive. As a consequence, the state has had to develop more and more complicated state tax structures that lead to higher degrees of inefficiencies. This causes more litigation on the part of individuals or organizations that feel wronged by the tax system. In reality, the children are the ones who lose. In the end, it will probably take continued court action and political persistence on the part of some brave and respected legislators to force the needed change in education finance.

[ThJ]

1. I hope you considered...

the political climate in your report, because even though some options may be beneficial, they are politically dead, so you must find alternatives which have a chance of succeeding politically.

Not too long ago, I did a report on a state income tax, and while my findings would certainly support implementing an income tax to reduce the overall tax burden, it is not politically viable at this time.

However, a BAT tax, expanded sales tax, expanded corporate franchise tax (and even a payroll tax seemed to have some life in the Lege) are options which could be considered. Aside from finding new revenue sources, you must also look at ways of saving money and providing a more equitable system, such as countywide school districts, which would cut down the number of administrators and allow property taxes to be shared throughout the county.

Out of curiosity, what were the alternatives you came up with?

[Maestro]

2. Oh certainly I did consider the political climate.

That is why one of my alternatives, an income tax, will never be. I will post later other alternatives.

[Maestro]

5. Here is one.

Others offer much more specific tax related reform. Former Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff has developed a plan to completely redefine Texas school finance (Dyson, 2004). His plan would call for a constitutional amendment to abolish local school property taxes for maintenance and operations and then establish a statewide property tax to pay for education. His plan also permits local enrichment taxes that could be levied in Tier II. Finally, it would restructure the tier structure of school finance although it would remain three tiers. In Tier III, he wants the state to guarantee a yield of $35.00 per penny of tax rate per ADA for all debt service on educational facilities up to $0.30. (Dyson, 2004) His plan may have opposition, especially from those that want more local control even though these districts still could maintain some sort of local control in the form of the enrichment taxes in Tier II. Additionally, a state wide property tax is not seen as favorable.

[ThJ]

6. Not a fan of statewide property taxes...

This does little to alleviate the overall tax burden, although it would bring more equity to the system; however, I think there are ways to do both.

BTW, it looks like you've done a lot of good research. I know when I did my report on a state income tax, I read the LBB's primer on school finance and that was certainly challenging. Look forward to reading more.

[Maestro]

7. Neither am I a fan of a statewide property tax

but the reality of the situation is that is what we have now with very many districts at their M&O tax cap of $1.50 per $100 of valuation. Here is the proposal I like personally, but the political climate is such in Texas that I just can't see it happening.

Still others are calling for a state income tax to fund education. The Center for Public Policy Priorities (2005) has called for a state income tax because in its view all other options will not sufficiently cure the school finance situation in Texas. This institution sees the Legislature’s failure to fund education and the reliance on local property tax revenues as the primary reasons for the trouble Texas schools currently face. At present, Texas has the thirteenth highest property tax bill in the nation. Furthermore this group sees raising the sales tax a poor option. The members of this group see the tax as too regressive. They report that four-fifths of Texas families would be worse off; especially those whose incomes are less than 21,797 (The Center for Public Policy Priorities, 2005). This concurs with the concerns by Zodrow (2004). He claims that any sales tax expansion that would disproportionably affect the poor could be offset by introducing a targeted means-tested sales tax rebate through use of the Lone Star Card program. However, if four-fifths of the families would be worse off, only targeting the poor would still leave a large proportion of middle class families struggling with a larger tax burden. The Center for Public Policy Priorities (2005) sees the only solution for funding education as a personal income tax coupled with an expanded sales base to include certain services while at the same time closing loopholes in the business franchise tax. This sentiment is echoed by Zodrow (2004) as well who advocates significant changes to the tax system in Texas although he recognizes that such strong opposition to a state income tax would render this possibility moot.

[ThJ]

16. That's also an option I support....

Doing my research on state income taxes, I believe this would go along way towards funding education as well allowing other state revenue to be put to other uses, since an income tax must constitutionally be used for education and property tax relief.

If this were enacted, then I would have no problem placing further restrictions on property and sales taxes, which I currently oppose.

[sonias]

3. Maestro, I'm looking forward to reading it

Public education is the most important thing we do as a government. Most people don't object to taxes when the money is being spent well and all of our children are getting a good education. Please do put it up on line so we can all start to wrap our heads around some alternative methods of fixing our system.

Sonia

[Maestro]

4. My website was just taken down to prepare for the new

site I am putting together. It won't be very political because it is hosted by my district. However my super is so democrat it hurts. In fact at our latest meeting he had a button that said "John Dietz is right!" Dietz is the judge that declared our system unconstitutional.

Here are a few more excerpts:

Does the current system need a complete overhaul? Does it fail entirely to meet its original intentions? Fiscal neutrality has increased over time. This was the intention of the system (Imazeki & Reschovsky, 2003). The next question is if the current finance system is adequate. This is difficult to answer as equal dollars does not mean equal performance (p. 15). In fact, some districts may indeed require more money than others in order for their children to receive an adequate education because of special needs. The current system tries to account for this in weighted formulas it has for per-pupil spending. These are the weights termed Cost of Education Index or CEIs. However, politics enters the fray once again. Even though the adjustments are in place, they are probably not adequate and quite possibly are developed less on the real need of any given district but more as a result of political negotiations (p. 17). Using a cost index function, it has been determined that the current school finance system does not adequately support all the students in Texas especially those students who are poor and are considered English language learners, ELLs (p. 17). These CEIs are antiquated in the views of some analysts (Taylor, L., Alexander, C., Gronberg, T., Jansen, D. & Keller, H., 2000). The CEI increases the amount the state aid received by school districts and it also reduces the amount of local revenue that is distributed through recapture. In a separate, more recent study, the same conclusions were found. The CEI mechanism is sorely outdated and needs to be recalculated since it relies on data that is from 1989 (Taylor, L. 2004). A large part of the CEI calculation is a function of teacher
From Politics to Progress 12.
salary across neighboring districts (Texas Center for Educational Research & Texas Association of School Boards, 2001). Allan Odden (2003) has made it clear that any finance reform must address issues of teacher salary since it will take highly qualified individuals to teach today’s students in the era of accountability and standards. Quite possibly, the Legislature simply does not want to recalculate this mechanism for fear of having to increase state aid. It is a cynical point of view but given the Legislature’s hesitancy to realize real change in the system, that point of view may be appropriate. So, two factors are affecting adversely the adjustments, politics and an insufficient formula in place to determine the adjustments.
Clearly the Legislature needs to act with better solutions. State aid has been steadily falling mainly because the foundation formula, Tier I, and the guaranteed tax base formula, Tier II, are not automatically adjusted for the rising costs of education (Imazeki, J. & Reschovsky, A, 2003). What this means is that as property values rise, state aid decreases. However, many districts can not recoup the difference in loss of state aid as they are at or near the $1.50 property tax cap. At the same time, the state and federal government expect more rigorous standards of performance. This is creating another rise in the cost of education. Finally, districts in Texas with high populations of low-income families and ELLs are too struggling to meet the added costs of educating these children even with the adjustments in their allotments.

[TXnWHoHatesBush]

8. Education & Chips down the toilet

I was wondering if anyone had this same experience...

In late 2000 my husband worked as a gauger with PGE formally Valero. (:blush: Don't hang me please, it paid the bills)

Anyway, my youngest son (step-son to my husband) was pestered by his school to sign up for CHIPS, relentlessly! So I filled out the paperwork thinking we would be denied...

:sarcasm: :applause: THEY ACCEPTED HIM!

Then...Elpaso bought out PG&E

Then... in Jan 2001 the day after the ass swore in my husband got his pink slip after 24 yrs of employment!

He was fortunate to get a better job even if it was $6 LESS then before, a month later.

:crazy: Imagine my surprise when I resubmitted my sons application for Chips and was told HE NO LONGER QUALIFIED BECAUSE MY HUSBAND MADE TOO MUCH MONEY????!!!!

Does any of this sound familiar?

Bush was slow to implement CHIPS His gestapo here in TX went on a frenzy signing up kids, most everyone I know was accepted. A lot lost it after the election for the same reason as I, go figure?!

[sonias]

9. Welcome to DU TXnWHoHatesBush!

Hey I'm right there with you on your name, another Texan who hates bush.

The repuke controlled state legislature was also to blame for the CHIP mismanagement, in addition to bu$h that is. The way CHIP works is that for every dollar the state spends, the federal government kicks in, or matches two dollars. So if a child needs and gets an exam or checkup etc. under the CHIP program, and that exam costs let's say $100; then the state has to put up $33 of that cost, while the federal government picks up the other $67. The state was already in a budget crisis so those "un-compassionate" repukes at the Lege decided they could balance the budget on the backs of poor kids by cutting CHIP and making the eligibility even more restrictive. With the intent being that we would have fewer children qualifying and therefore the state wouldn't have to spend any money. Yes we would leave our federal allotment on the table, but as far as they were concerned they didn't want to put very much in the program that the state had to pay for.

Here are the guidelines for CHIP now
http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/chip/

Here is a good summary of how bu$h screwed poor Texas Children. The "Leave No Texas Kid A Dime" policy. I recently saw this (Leave No Child A Dime!) on a bumper sticker and loved it.

Lie of the Week
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/07/07/lie_week/
(snip)
But in healthcare policy circles, Bush has actually been rather notorious for trying to make sure the program covers as few kids as possible. Though the program allowed states to insure kids at up to double the poverty line -- or 200 percent -- Bush first tried to limit coverage to kids whose parents made up to 133 percent of the poverty line, later agreeing to bump it up to 150 percent. Bush fought tooth and nail with the state legislature to keep coverage to 150 percent, rather than the more generous 200 percent. In human terms, this meant denying coverage to roughly 200,000 Texas children. The legislature eventually won, and Bush signed the bill. But Bush fought it every step of the way.

So, signed it? Yes. But "embraced" it? Well, that sounds like a bit of a stretch. Doesn't it?
(/snip)

Sonia

[TXnWHoHatesBush]

10. Education in TX is a joke

To make matters worse, my son has ADHD with a mild form of CP, so mild he is not able to get SSI, husband makes too much, but because he was diagnosed at a early age (2) it is very hard to get him covered on insurance, period.

Because I was harassed by the school to sign up for CHIP and had to drop our other insurance I played hell getting him back on. He went 6 weeks without Adderal all and the school had the nerve to bitch, his adderal all costs $175 generic brand. I would have the $ the pharmacy (we live in a . size town 1/2 between San Antonio & Corpus Christi) would be short or completely out. By the time they had it, I had to spend it on groceries... vicious cycle.

In the end I took him out of school and home schooled. Small town, I pissed off the wrong person ya da ya da ya da, CPS, (made a fool of them all) wish we could move but... my husbands job says we have to stay.

I feel I have a very good reason to hate George Bush. BTW I spent 4 yrs in the USAF during Carter. I did my time!

My son is 19 yrs old now, in College& doing great. Pretty good since when I started Home schooling him in 7th gr. he couldn't do multiplication or read past a 4th gr level, huh!

[sonias]

11. I hear you TXnWHoHatesBush

You do have every reason to hate bu$h and this whole system of insurance. It makes absolutely no sense to me that the richest nation in the world has so many uninsured and that our prescriptions are so much more expensive than let's say Canada or Mexico.

I thank you for your service in the USAF. I had 4 brothers who served in the Army and Marines. Three of them during the Vietnam war.

Our public education system in Texas wasn't always a joke. I think I got a very good public education. That was before they started to starve the public education system though.

Good luck to you, your son and your whole family. Keep on fighting the system. And again, welcome to DU. You can always feel safe griping and ranting on this board.

Sonia

[Maestro]

12. TX education is not a joke

While your situation is bad (and I am glad it turned out well for you) we, the teachers and administrators, know what to do for our children. We are fighting the battle just like you. The education system is not part of the rethuglican system but we do have to work within its system. We are pushing the rules as far as we can to make things work for kids, period.

[TXnWHoHatesBush]

13. Then why?

The powers that be in this little Republican Gestapo haven called CPS and told them I neglected my son's education? If not for the help I received from the home school association I could have lost my child to foster care! It was only after my son was tested and his scores were compared against the ones last collected by the school did they relent and leave us in peace. These were the same people who neglected to even try to teach my child.

When I pulled him from their school, he was reading at a 4th grade level(he was in 7th gr) could not multiply, and his self-esteem was nil. 6 months later after being taught by me,(I have a BA in journalism but have Never taught)he was reading at a College level(I used "I Love Phonics" intervention for older children) and was almost through with a course in Algebra 1 (Saxon Math).

They tried to cover their obvious neglect by claiming my success was because of hours of 1 on 1 attention I was able to give him. But, in reality I had only spent about 30 min total time "teaching" After explaining multiplication to him and reading the directions to the reading program to him, he taught himself.

Finally, when he scored higher then their #1 student on the SAT in 2003 they tried (prodded by several parent groups)to get the district to re-test, insisting he must have cheated!

They failed! What other conclusion could I come to by their behavior?

[Maestro]

14. I am not going to be drawn into a fight

about the obvious pathetic treatment that was given your son, but I object to your broad stroke against all public education in Texas. It has not failed. We teach kids to be literate, thinking human beings despite what the media says. People against public education love to point to horrible cases like the treatment you and your son received and paint this as a norm. It isn't or I wouldn't be in public education.

[TXnWHoHatesBush]

15. Didn't mean to offend

I just get upset sometimes and vent out. The fact is I am angry at how children are pigeon holed and labeled (IE: Spec Ed) and because of budget cuts causing a teacher shortages children like my son were/are fall through the cracks. And you have to admit there are some teachers out there that could care less or are just too busy to notice.

Also, I don't mean to bash teachers, my step-daughter just graduated and starts teaching this 2005-06 school yr. Hopefully, having witnessed what happened firsthand she will be more aware and knowledgeable.