Tag Archives: school finance

State House mulls big increase in school funding

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a good start. As Texas’ Republican leadership calls for property tax cuts and a school finance overhaul, the Texas House on Monday pitched a bold proposal: Pump roughly $7 billion more state funds into public schools — but only … Continue reading →

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Here comes the latest school finance report

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I figure the smart money is always on efforts like this to fail, but you never know. After hours of discussion Wednesday, a state panel studying school finance stripped its final report of language that blamed the state for inadequate … Continue reading →

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It’s bill-filing season

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here are some highlights from Day One: House Bill 49, by Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, would get rid of daylight saving time in Texas. Some lawmakers have tried to do this in past sessions. House Bill 63, by Rep. … Continue reading →

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Will teachers turn out for Mike Collier?

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

He sure hopes so. On his long-shot campaign to unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Collier is hoping he’s popular in a lot of rooms that look like this one — where after hearing from him, education-focused voters in a … Continue reading →

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Falling short on college readiness

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. A majority of students at the top-rated high schools in Texas are likely to need remedial course work when they get to college because they don’t score well enough on entrance exams, a Hearst Newspapers analysis of newly … Continue reading →

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Property tax revenue up, school funding down

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Welcome to Texas. An early projection has Texas decreasing state funding to public education, and largely using local taxes to fill the gap. In its preliminary budget request ahead of next year’s legislative session, the Texas Education Agency projected a … Continue reading →

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Many more school districts are feeling the pinch

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Not just HISD. Not by a long shot. For eight-straight years, Cypress-Fairbanks and Conroe ISDs earned the Texas Smart Schools Award, bestowed on school districts with prudent financial practices and high academic achievement. Now, Cypress-Fairbanks faces a $50 million deficit … Continue reading →

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HISD faces major changes

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is a very big story, but a key component to it is not discussed here. Houston ISD officials said Saturday the district will need to cut about $200 million from its 2018-19 budget to bring spending in line with … Continue reading →

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Has Harvey changed anything politically?

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

You’d think it would, but it remains to be seen as far as I’m concerned. A month to the day after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, the reality of the storm was beginning to sink in on the minds … Continue reading →

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House to study Harvey-related issues

Posted on September 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Good to see. House Speaker Joe Straus is asking three House committees to wade into issues related to Hurricane Harvey, including how the state can maximize federal funds and whether to rethink how to grade schools affected by the storm … Continue reading →

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House passes school finance bills

Posted on August 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I doubt they’ll meet a different fate than they did in the regular session, but kudos anyway. The Texas House on Friday passed a package of bills that would put $1.8 billion into public schools and help out struggling small, … Continue reading →

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This special session is going to be so much fun

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

So much repressed hostility… Five days before the Texas Legislature is scheduled to open a special session, it is clear the relationship between the leaders of the House and Senate remains as strained as it was at the end of … Continue reading →

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Special session officially set

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Brace yourselves, it starts next week. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a declaration for a special session of the Texas Legislature Monday, formally inviting lawmakers back to Austin to pass “sunset legislation” that will keep several key state agencies open. The … Continue reading →

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What West Texas can do to improve their schools

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an op-ed from the Statesman about one educator in West Texas who has had enough. My hero this week is Graydon Hicks, Fort Davis superintendent of schools. A West Texas publication published his open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott … Continue reading →

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School finance bill is dead

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It started with this. State Rep. Dan Huberty said Wednesday that he would not accept the Senate’s changes to his school finance bill, launching a last-ditch effort to hammer out a compromise with less than a week left in the … Continue reading →

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Senate wrecks school finance bill

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s what they do. The Texas Senate has scrapped much of a proposal to revise how the state funds education in place of a plan to create a school voucher program for children with disabilities. The bill passed the Senate … Continue reading →

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More on the HISD recapture re-referendum

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the full Chron story about Saturday’s re-vote on recapture. About 84 percent of constituents voted “for” HISD’s Proposition 1, giving the school district the green light to send $77.5 million to the Texas Education Agency rather than let the … Continue reading →

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House approves bill to kill margins tax

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Dumb. The Texas House on Thursday approved a proposal that would phase out an unpopular business tax that provides funding for public schools. The proposal by state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, would not reduce the state’s franchise tax during the … Continue reading →

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House passes school finance reform bill

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Well done. State Rep. Dan Huberty succeeded at a difficult task Wednesday: getting the Texas House of Representatives to vote for legislation overhauling the funding system for public education, without a court mandate. After a four-hour discussion of more than … Continue reading →

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House releases school finance fix bill

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

A step in the right direction. The top public education policymaker in the Texas House unveiled a $1.6 billion plan on Monday that he described as a first step to overhauling the state’s beleaguered school funding system. At a Capitol … Continue reading →

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A re-vote on recapture?

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This is very interesting. After reconsideration of an 18-year-old law, state education officials are adjusting their school finance calculations in a way that could save several dozen school districts roughly $100 million — while costing the state the same amount … Continue reading →

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Senate to begin studying school finance changes

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what this looks like. Leaders in the Texas Senate are vowing to find ways to overhaul the state’s school finance system, saying a recent Texas Supreme Court decision granted them a prime opportunity to shake up the heavily … Continue reading →

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Where we begin with school finance

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

A nice overview from the Trib on school finance, where the problems are many and the budget situation is non-optimal. The current system is held together by a number of short-term fixes that have not been updated or reformed in … Continue reading →

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Who is paying for public education

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The state is paying less, while local districts are paying more. The state of Texas will spend a projected $40.5 billion on public education during the current 2016-17 budget period, and when state officials tell you they’re spending more on … Continue reading →

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TEA says no more special ed limits

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see about that. The Texas Education Agency has agreed to stop auditing school districts that give specialized education to more than 8.5 percent of students, officials announced Wednesday, cheering experts, advocates and lawmakers outraged by the policy. In a … Continue reading →

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Hochberg speaks on recapture

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

We should listen and at least consider what he’s saying. HISD loses the recapture money, one way or another, even if it doesn’t actually write a check. And the state gets its money one way or another, because the taxes … Continue reading →

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Another look at the case for HISD recapture

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Dale Craymer taps the brakes on the vote-NO-on-recapture train. Houston Independent School District voters face an unhappy choice this November – vote “YES” or “FOR” on Proposition 1 to authorize the state to recapture roughly $160 million of the school … Continue reading →

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Hey, here’s an idea: Increase funding for public education

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

That’s just crazy talk. Texas House budget and public education leaders said Wednesday that the best way to overhaul the state’s school finance system is to increase the base amount of money it gives to each district per student. While … Continue reading →

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HISD board members against the HISD ballot item

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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The recapture blues

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What are you gonna do? At least once a year, an official from a property-wealthy Texas school calls Christy Rome and tells her they’re just not going to do it. They don’t want to send a big chunk of their … Continue reading →

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School finance can always get worse

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Now here’s a brilliant, why-didn’t-we-think-of-that-before idea: Give schools less money as incentive to do better. Depending on whose measure you’re using, Texas is somewhere between 38th and 49th in the nation when it comes to per-student funding. Instead of wallowing … Continue reading →

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The Observer talks to now-retired Judge John Dietz about school finance reform

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

A brief taste: One really important point, which was certainly not addressed [by the Supreme Court]: With economically disadvantaged students, the undisputed testimony is that if you didn’t grow up economically disadvantaged, when you arrived at school you had roughly … Continue reading →

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Straus wants to study school finance

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I appreciate the effort, but I plan to keep my expectations low. Citing a recent Texas Supreme Court decision that upheld the state’s public school funding system while deeming it “undeniably imperfect,” state House Speaker Joe Straus on Thursday ordered … Continue reading →

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On big money high school stadiums

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Monthly is against ’em. As a part of a $220 million bond package, McKinney ISD is adding an opulent events center and 12,000-seat high school football stadium that will cost a total of $62.8 million. According to the Dallas … Continue reading →

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