Texas Schools Could Lose Millions in State Funding (TX)

September 24, 2010

As the single biggest consumer of statemoney, the Texas public education system stands to lose millions of dollars asthe state grapples with a looming budget shortfall that could exceed $18billion.

Education Commissioner Robert Scott hassuggested more than $260 million in cuts from the state’s almost $40 billioneducation budget for the next two years. Some of those would reach into theclassroom, eliminating money for new science labs, textbooks and teacherdevelopment, recommendations that have infuriated teachers.

Gov. Rick Perry’s "budgetarypolicies are wrecking the public schools and jeopardizing our children’sfuture," said Rita Haecker, president of the Texas State TeachersAssociation. "The governor can talk all he wants about school savings …but most districts and educators are already stretched so thin, there islittle, if anything, left to save."

The state budget shortfall will be thedriving force behind almost every decision the Legislature makes when itconvenes in January. From state parks and highways to health care programs forthe poor and disabled, state agencies are bracing for the fiscal bloodbath.

Much like the state, school districtsare facing declining budgets of their own and many superintendents say they’redigging into reserves and cutting basic programs and staffing just to keep upwith rising costs. But Texas has so far avoided the crisis faced in otherstates, such as shortened school weeks in Oklahoma and delayed payments toschools and state employee furloughs in California.

The hatchet is falling at a time whenexperts say the school financing system in the state needs a major overhaul toavoid another lawsuit and to make sure schools keep pace with costs of boomingenrollment, higher costs on such necessities as utility bills andtransportation.

Any efforts to fix the system wouldlikely take more money the state won’t have this year.

In some cases, the struggles areexacerbated by a 2006 law that froze state aid to districts without allowingfor the costs of changing demographics or inflation.

Opponents say that provision, which wasintended to keep wealthier school districts from taking a hit in the amount ofstate aid they receive under revised funding formulas, has built arbitrarywinners and losers into the system, violating a requirement that school fundingbe largely equal among districts.

The two major candidates for governorone of whom will inherit the almost $40 billion school system and its 4.8million students both say spending on public education should be a priority,though neither will offer specifics on where cuts should or shouldn’t be made.

"I don’t know," Democratcandidate Bill White said when asked if more state money should be invested inpublic schools. "I think as governor, I will convene a broad based groupof stakeholders to consider the adequacy and the equity of school fundingfinance formulas. There seems to be a broad consensus that there are arbitraryinequities, in part resulting from the complex patchwork of the system.

"In light of the financial messthat Rick Perry has left the state in it’s unlikely that issue will be resolvedin the first legislative session."

Perry said that even though heconsiders education a priority, it won’t be exempt from budget cuts.

"There is no place in stategovernment that should be exempt," he said.

Texas is facing a shortfall that budgetofficials say could go higher than $18 billion. The recession has pushed statetax receipts down, but the state is also on the hook to fill a hole of about$11 billion left by federal stimulus money and other state savings that wereused last year but are no longer available. Added cost pressures from increasedenrollment in public schools and health care prog rams, decreased propertyvalues and spikes in health care costs all contribute to projections of amultibillion dollar hole.

Because the Texas Constitution tightlyrestricts government borrowing, lawmakers will have to make up for theshortfall by cutting government programs and services, raising taxes and feesor other accounting maneuvers.

The budget proposal for the TexasEducation Agency would ax millions of dollars for a teacher mentoring programand other continuing education opportunities for teachers. It also would cut$35 million that was set aside in the last budget to help schools build newscience labs to go along with a new requirement that high school students takefour years of science classes.

Plans to buy new science and Englishtextbooks also are being delayed, a decision that could leave many studentswith decade-old books.

Scott, who was appointed by Perry, hasasked lawmakers to spare state funding for pre-kindergarten programs and ateacher incentive pay program that Perry has championed. The suggestion hasriled teachers who dislike Perry’s pet merit pay initiatives but want moreopportunities for professional development.

Jessica Gallagher, a seventh-gradeEnglish teacher at San Antonio’s North East school district, said she can gowithout new textbooks in her classrooms and she never expected to get bonuseswhen she became a teacher. But it makes her angry that the state is worriedabout saving teacher incentive payments while her students are losing access todropout prevention programs and money for physical education and fitness.

"We have a large population ofmorbidly obese children," Gallagher, a White supporter, said. "I’venever seen kids this big in my life. If they’re going to cut the physicaleducation requirement, they’re going to continue down this path that ultimatelycould result in death for some of them."

But in a recent interview with TheAssociated Press, Perry again refused to get into specifics on proposed budgetcuts before he can sit down with legislators and hear from experts.

"I’m not ready to say that justbecause an agency said, here is our legislative appropriation request, andhere’s where we meet your and the lieutenant governor’s and the speaker’srequest to reduce 10 percent, I’m not going to get into whether for thatagency, that specific amount is right or not. It’s frankly not productive atthis time."

The issue of adequate school fundinghas been a grievance since the battle of the Alamo, when Texans complained thatMexico had failed to establish a public education system. Since then, the statehas been in and out of court over school funding, most recently in 2006. That’swhen a court order forced Texas to act or face statewide school closure.

The 2006 plan was designedto shift the burden away from local property taxpayers, replacing a portionwith revenue from a revised business tax and higher cigarette taxes among otherthings. But the new business tax has not generated as much money as expected,and a structural shortfall has been cemented into the system.