The combination of the federal budget woes and the increase in city water bills makes this a really tough time for other entities to ask for more money. But it is always hard to reject measures that will improve conditions in local schools. Voters in several local districts are being asked to approve bond elections.
Jim Ned patrons will have to decide how local they want their schools to be. They'll be voting on a proposal that would consolidate elementary campuses into a single site in Tuscola. The sites in Lawn and Buffalo Gap would be closed so the issues for these folks involve more than just money.
As folks vote about facilities and school funding, I'd like mention a few items about how schools are financed in Texas. First, the legislature has spent years wrestling with equitable funding for schools and may never find a good way to make that happen. Second, our schools have 2 pockets.
About twenty years ago I studied school funding because I was serving as a school board trustee. I learned that the state doesn't fund education in Texas. That falls to the individual school district. Each district sets and collects taxes on property. Then, the district has to find a way to educate their students while meeting the obligations of unfunded mandates that come from state and national rule makers.
Since not all property is created equal, districts have very different incomes. Generally, business and industrial property bring in much more income than farming and residential property. There is an equality of taxation when tax rates are based on valuation. But this does not translate into parity of funding for "rich" districts and "poor" districts.
I don't think Solomon could find a way to spread education funding equitably across the state. But I do believe that districts should benefit from their own wise monetary choices.
And now, because of the way blogs work, I'm going to close this portion and address the 2 pockets idea in a new entry.
Jim Ned patrons will have to decide how local they want their schools to be. They'll be voting on a proposal that would consolidate elementary campuses into a single site in Tuscola. The sites in Lawn and Buffalo Gap would be closed so the issues for these folks involve more than just money.
As folks vote about facilities and school funding, I'd like mention a few items about how schools are financed in Texas. First, the legislature has spent years wrestling with equitable funding for schools and may never find a good way to make that happen. Second, our schools have 2 pockets.
About twenty years ago I studied school funding because I was serving as a school board trustee. I learned that the state doesn't fund education in Texas. That falls to the individual school district. Each district sets and collects taxes on property. Then, the district has to find a way to educate their students while meeting the obligations of unfunded mandates that come from state and national rule makers.
Since not all property is created equal, districts have very different incomes. Generally, business and industrial property bring in much more income than farming and residential property. There is an equality of taxation when tax rates are based on valuation. But this does not translate into parity of funding for "rich" districts and "poor" districts.
I don't think Solomon could find a way to spread education funding equitably across the state. But I do believe that districts should benefit from their own wise monetary choices.
And now, because of the way blogs work, I'm going to close this portion and address the 2 pockets idea in a new entry.
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