I missed this when it first appeared.
Three Houston school board members on Thursday evening publicly urged voters to oppose a measure that would authorize the district to forfeit $162 million to the state.
Trustees Jolanda Jones, Harvin Moore and Rhonda Skillern-Jones went on the offensive at the live-streamed board meeting, asking voters to join them in voting “no” on the Nov. 8 ballot measure required under the state’s school-finance system.
The board members are taking a gamble, calling on state lawmakers to revamp the funding system to relieve the Houston Independent School District when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“We are King Kong in this state,” Jones said, noting that the Houston school system is the largest district in Texas and should have influence.
[…]
Here’s the rub: If the ballot measure fails and the education commissioner detaches property from HISD — an unprecedented move — the district will not be able to tax those properties to fund the repayment of debt. And the district has significant debt, including the ongoing $1.9 billion construction bond program approved by voters in 2012.
The district overall cannot take a position on the measure. However, it has launched an educational campaign, focused on the confusing state-mandated ballot language that will ask voters whether they approve purchasing attendance credits from the state. A “yes” vote to the credits means the district sends the $162 million.
If the funding system does not change, the Houston school district estimates that its “recapture” payment will rise to $257 million in 2017-18, $308 million in 2018-19 and $386 million the following year.
See here for the background. As the story notes, former HISD board member and current “education czar” for Mayor Turner Juliet Stipeche is also opposed to the referendum. I get where they’re coming from, and the escalating recapture payments are daunting, if not crippling. There is definitely an urgency in trying to get the Legislature to do something to avert the problem, or at least to mitigate it. The problem is that there’s no sign that the Legislature, or Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, have any interest in lifting a finger for HISD. Indeed, it’s quite clear that at least on the Senate side, all the energy in 2017 is going to be on making things worse for public education in general. I get the idea, and I don’t think approving the issue does any good. I’m just not sure that defeating it isn’t worse, even if it does have the potential for an upside. See here for the official HISD page on recapture. What do you think about this?
Thanks, very complicated issue
And just as the lottery was supposed to pay for education, they screw it up again.
HISD has been on the receiving end of this law since 1994. How many millions have they brought in by being a ‘poor’ district? Oh the irony. Redistribution of wealth is all fine and dandy till it bites you in the arse.
I don’t think HISD was receiving Robin Hood dollars. There was an exemption from having to pay, due to the district demographics, even though HISD was over the limit on the WADA to taxes ratio.
I’m just enjoying seeing people who support wealth redistribution actually having THEIR wealth redistributed for a change. Who knows, maybe the school board will turn Libertarian, or even conservative!
We should let the “free market” do its magic.
If you can’t afford an elementary or secondary education for your children then you should work harder!!!
Sheesh…this is so easy to solve.