Commissioner Scott, at a Senate Finance Committee meeting, estimated that 40-50% of our school districts are operating with deficit budgets and are relying on reserves to pay the bills.  I think he is pretty much on target.   It has been said that relying on reserves to pay bills has put districts on a set timeline to run out of money.  When districts have no ability to increase revenue and expenses grow, a situation is created where the time that the district will run out of money is easily projected.  In past commentaries we have called this “hitting the wall’.    

My point this morning is that, even though I stated yesterday I was pleased with the overall attitude of the Senate Finance Committee toward taking steps to address school funding, I also sensed from comments that they may not fully grasp the scope and severity of the funding problems most of our school districts are experiencing.

Cypress Fairbanks is the third largest school district in Texas.  Cy-Fair Superintendent David Anthony was recently quoted in the Houston Chronicle as follows:  “Academically we are in great shape, but financially in horrible shape,”   While Dallas ISD has had management issues that over shadowed these trends, that district, too, is hurting.  The problem is looming over all isd’s across the state, both large urban districts as well as small rural districts.  It is my belief that the assignment of inequitable target revenues is largely responsible for which districts make it to the finish line first.  Districts experiencing enrollment declines are having severe financial stress.  Some of the 242 school districts having Tax Ratification Elections (TRE) had no choice because of low target revenue and enrollment decline.  Some of these districts added the 13 cents and only extended the timeline by 1 to 2 years, so having an TRE is not a long term solution.

I received several contacts yesterday inquiring about the number of TRE elections held since passage of HB1.  These questions were initiated from discussion in the Senate Education Committee. The discussion was that  about a hundred, very small districts and, no chapter 41s, had had TRE elections. The readers felt that these comments were minimizing the severity of the financial issues. 

No one said, “Mostly districts with very low target revenues are having elections” (the real cause), yet districts with lower target revenues had 10 times more elections as those with the higher target revenues.  

• There have been 252 TRE (Tax Ratification Elections) elections in 242 districts.  (10 districts had 2 elections)
• Not all were small districts – Austin (75,000 ADA), San Antonio (50,000 ADA), Ysleta (42,000 ADA), Alief (40,934 ADA), Corpus Christi (35,958 ADA) – There were 15 elections in districts with over 10,000 ADA – not all passed, but large districts are hurting
• Chapter 41 districts having elections – Austin, Andrews, Barbers Hill, Prosper, Kennedy County, (I did not look for the $319,500 chapter 41’s) and they all passed. 
• 242 School Districts had elections 177 (73%) were ratified by voters.
• 145 districts are now at or above $1.17 M&O cap.
• 242 of the 1025 districts (23%) have had elections

Joe Smith – webmaster@texasisd.com