Debate surrounds voucher, school funding bills

Lawmakers file conflicting Robin Hood bills - one to eliminate it, another to extend it

February 1, 2003
By Monica Wolfson
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - State lawmakers will grapple with a variety of education issues this session, including creating a pilot school voucher program, addressing demands for higher teacher pay and better health care benefits, and reforming the way public schools are funded.

The 2003 legislative session began Jan. 14 and ends June 2.

State Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, has filed a voucher bill allowing parents of children who fail a portion of the state assessment test or attend low-performing public schools in the state’s six largest districts to send their child to a private school using a voucher. The voucher would be valued at between $4,700 and $5,700, depending on the district.

The school must be accredited, and students attending private schools with state money would have to take state assessment tests, according to the bill.

Some public school officials oppose vouchers because they say it takes state dollars out of a cash-starved public school system.

"We just believe public schools have done a very good job of educating children and we need to fully fund them," said Karen Soehnge, associate executive director of government relations for the Texas Association of School Administrators. "We don’t think it’s good public policy to take money away from public schools for private education."

Wilson filed the same bill in 2001, but it died in committee. There is no estimate on how much a voucher pilot program would cost.

Conflicting finance bills
Two lawmakers have filed bills that would change the way public schools are financed. One bill eliminates Robin Hood, the state school financing equity system that requires property wealthy school districts to share tax dollars with property poor districts. Another bill extends the life of Robin Hood and allows property wealthy school districts to keep more of their tax dollars.

School officials said the solution to fixing the state’s ailing school financing system is to increase the state share of education spending, which currently sits at 41 percent.

School officials said they’d like the state to fund 60 percent of the cost of education, but would settle for 50 percent. According to a Texas Association of School Boards analysis, increasing the state financial responsibility for education to 50 percent would cost an additional $4.2 billion per two-year budget cycle. If the state were to increase its funding to 60 percent, it would cost an extra $9.2 billion over two years.

"Our membership thinks that is what the state Legislature should do," said Cathy Douglass, director of government relations for the Texas Association of School Boards. "It’s their job. A lot of our members feel like they’ve done all they can do."

School officials also oppose raising the school property tax cap from $1.50 per $100 evaluated property because that puts the financing burden on local taxpayers.

"To raise the cap, people in their communities have to vote for that," Soehnge said. "For many districts, that may not be a solution for them."

Push for pay increase
Meanwhile, teachers are pushing for a $5,000 pay increase to raise salaries to the national average of $44,499.

"It all comes down to whether we are going to address the teacher shortage in Texas," said Richard Kouri, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association. "Are we going to just talk about fixing it or pretend we don’t have one or just do another study? If we are going to fix it, we have to talk about getting salaries up to the national average."

Texas will need 40,000 to 50,000 new teachers next year, school officials said. And some school groups are concerned that lawmakers will do away with the hard-fought teacher’s health insurance program, which was only fully implemented this year. Every school employee gets $1,000 per year from the state to help defray the costs of health insurance. Plus, the state gives school districts a monthly sum to pay for insurance premiums.

"It’s vulnerable," said Catherine Clark, associate director for governance service at the Texas Association of School Boards. "We’d like not to take a step backward. We’d like to keep the plan of benefits as offered."

School officials fear that school districts and teachers will shoulder rising health insurance premium costs because the state won’t increase its funding to match rising costs.

Contact Monica Wolfson at (512) 334-6642 or wolfsonm@scripps.com