DALLAS - As Texas lawmakers await final resolution of a lawsuit over the state's school finance formula, a key legislator has introduced a bill that would design a new system.
House Bill 654 by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, would create 30 finance districts across the state to replace the current "Robin Hood" system of balancing revenue between property-wealthy and property-poor school districts. Texas has 1,026 school districts.
Aycock, who chairs the House Public Education Committee, said he was introducing the measure as a "conversation starter" among fellow legislators and school finance experts.
"This basically narrows the difference in taxable wealth per weighted student by forcing consolidation for tax purposes only," Aycock said in a letter to House members. "Once the taxable wealth disparity is removed it becomes a simpler matter to appropriate the Foundation School Program of which every weighted student get exactly the same state dollars. All wealth disparity would be minimized to an allowable band."
The districts would require local voter approval under Aycock's bill. Commissioners for the districts could force consolidations where local officials were unable to reach agreement on a merger.
Joe F. Smith, a former school superintendent who founded TexasISD.com, offered cautious praise for the proposal.
"In my opinion this may be a more palatable way of equalizing the wealth across the state," Smith said. "The wealth of the state is not where the students are. There has to be a mechanism to move the money to the student. We currently use recapture, but it is not very efficient in accomplishing the task."
Smith noted that Texas tried to consolidate finance districts at the county level in the early 1990s. That system was declared unconstitutional because it was deemed to create a constitutionally forbidden statewide property tax.
In place of that system, lawmakers created a complicated formula for sharing of wealth between districts statewide.
State District Court Judge John Dietz ruled the current system unconstitutional in February 2013 after a three-month trial. That ruling came while the Legislature was in session. During that session, lawmakers restored $3.7 billion of the $5.4 billion that had been cut in the 2011 session.
To account for the partially restored funding, Dietz reopened the trial in 2014, taking three more weeks of testimony. After that, he ruled that the funding system remained unconstitutional. That ruling is on appeal to the state Supreme Court. The 2015 legislative session may end before the court case is resolved.
"While we do not know the final outcome of the school finance suit, I think it is appropriate to foster broad conversations on this matter while awaiting the final decision," Aycock wrote. "The unfortunate truth is that with each passing lawsuit the Legislature is forced into more and more convoluted decisions in our effort to balance constitutional requirements, court mandates, and limited resources."
