By: Tom Behrens –
In the beginning of November, Harris, Fort Bend and Waller County 57.25 percent of the voters rejected maintaining Katy ISD Maintenance and Operations tax rate of $0.9617. According to Texas law, when a certain level of property growth reaches a certain level, the M&O tax rate is required by law to be reduced 4.7 percent.
Texas mandates that the maintenance and operation of a school district be reduced from $0.96 per $100 assessed property value to $0.91 per $100 assessed property value. The district proposed to maintain the tax rate remain the same of $0.96. The reasoning behind the request was so teachers and staff would see a 4 percent pay raise this school year. New classroom teacher salaries would be $60,700.00, a jump from $57,365.00 in the 2021-2022 hiring schedule.
If passed, Harris County and Fort Bend County property owners would have seen an increase of $152.00 per year, or $13.00 more per month in taxes on a home with an average taxable value of $324.213.00.
Dr. Ken Gregorski, KISD Superintendent issued the following statement after the election. “We knew going into this election that asking our voters to sustain their current school district tax rate in lieu of a 4.7 cent state mandated reduction would be a big ask for our community, particularly during these times of uncertainty as we continue to climb out of a global pandemic and recession. We also know how much our community truly values our teachers and staff. The election outcome, while not what we hoped for, is by no means a referendum on our community’s support for the District and our employees.”
Funding public education is not just a problem for Katy ISD. Public schools across Texas are figuring how to pay the bills and reward its teachers and employees.
Recent news from Houston ISD showed enrollment significantly lower than in the last 10 years. Enrollment is going down as the cost to educate a student is going up. The State of Texas basic allotment per student is $6,160.00 and has not changed since 2019. HISD projected a $26 million loss for the 2023 school year, prompting concern for school closures.
Many Katy ISD homeowner voters said the problem rests at the state level. Austin ISD agrees. The most effective solutions for school funding begin with an increase to the basic allotment at the state. Texas ranks in the bottom ten nationally in per student funding, spending $4,000 less per student than the national average, while educating about 10 percent of all K-12 students in the U.S.
How does Texas accumulate funds to redistribute to public education?
Recapture – school district tax receipts paid to the state. “The focus of our priorities surrounding recapture is not to eliminate the system, but rather to support significant reforms to a system that is now almost three decades old and no longer working as intended,” stated Austin ISD. Today recapture is the fourth largest revenue source for the state of Texas. In the school year 2021-2022 the amount of recapture paid by the 160 recapture districts in Texas will exceed $3 billion.
Austin ISD supports an increase in the basic allotment with the goal of matching the national average in per student funding by 2030. Fund school districts based on enrollment rather than attendance.
As they say, “stay tuned”. Funding public education should be one of the hot topics for the 88th Legislature as it opens in January 2023.