By Jennifer Bendery, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – The House Committee on Public Education held its first meeting of the 78th Legislature today and heard testimony from a range of witnesses regarding HB 604, which relates to public school finance. The bill, authored by committee chairman Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington), was voted favorably as substituted.
HB 604 would end what is known as Robin Hood, the portion of the Texas school code that regulates school finance, with an effective date of Sept. 1, 2005.
David Thompson of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) testified his support for the sunset of only some of the portions of the Texas school code that HB 604 proposes to end. He stated that HB 604 should not repeal Chapters 45 and 46 of the Texas Education Code, which relate to issuance and financing of facilities.
These portions need to stay intact "because of their tie to the debt structure in Texas," which involves hundreds of millions of bonds in school districts. To sunset these chapters "translates into uncertainty within the marketplace."
Thompson added that Robin Hood "does not affect most members of this [legislative] body" and that legislators need to keep in mind that it "affects many districts and is not just an issue of recapture." Kathy Douglas of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) testified that, like TASA, TASB shares concern over the portion of HB 604 that seeks to sunset provisions relating to bonded debts in school districts around the state.
Ted Melina Raab, senior legislative analyst with the Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT), testified that while HB 604's aim to repeal the current public education system may be a more effective approach to funding the system than to replace it, he urged legislators "to begin immediately the work of defining a replacement that does not retreat from equalizing funds for all Texas schoolchildren."
Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Equity Center, testified against HB 604 because "there is reason to believe that once the link between funding of the rich and poor is broken, the equity gains of the last decade will be lost." Pierce stated that while the over-reliance on property taxes places too heavy a burden on all property owners, "Robin Hood carries with it the principle that all districts do well."
Dan Casey of the Fast Growth School Coalition, which represents 103 school districts that account for nearly all of the enrollment growth in Texas public schools, testified that he has "reservations about the sunset provisions of HB 604" that relate to Chapters 45 and 46 because of their tie to the Permanent School Fund Board Guarantee mechanism. Rod Schroder, President of the Texas School Alliance (TSA), testified that TSA "has substantial concerns with HB 604" as its repeal of Chapters 45 and 46 lead to continuing uncertainties relating to "the bond market, potentially higher interest rate, and difficulties in gaining voter approval for school bonds."