Dan Branch
Member
May 6, 2004
Dan Branch is Budget
and Oversight Chairman of the Public Education Committee and a member of the
School finance special session reaches
midpoint
Two weeks down. Two weeks to go. At the halfway mark of this spring's special legislative session on public school finance, the Legislature is striving to pass a new education funding system. There have been bumps along the way and certainly more to come before the May 19 conclusion of the 30-day session. The House has attempted to follow a focused timetable in order to send a bill to the Senate for debate, passage and ultimate reconciliation by a small group of appointed House and Senate leaders, a "conference committee."
On Saturday, my colleagues and I on the School Finance Select Committee passed a bill that achieved several of the goals presented to the Legislature in March by the Joint Select Committee on Public School Finance, a group of senior legislative leaders. Among the highlights of the 372-page bill were: increased funding to school districts, a 30% property tax reduction, an elimination of the unfair business franchise tax, a simplified formula for allocating funds to districts, and performance and incentive initiatives for teachers and districts.
HB 1 also
included revenue sources designed to pay for increased school funding and
property tax relief: a slight increase in the sales tax rate, a limited
expansion of the sales tax base, and a broad-based business tax that would
apply to all business entities in
Several members on the committee including this one stated that the bill represented a starting point, not a finished product. Unlike previous drafts of HB 1, I was pleased that the committee's draft included no statewide property tax and no dramatic change in the sales tax base. Believing that it would significantly reduce Robin Hood recapture for HPISD, I cast an "aye" vote for the bill.
When it arrived on the House floor Tuesday, I was anxious to see how we could improve the legislation. Early in the debate, the House summarily decided that it was not interested in including a split-roll property tax plan supported by Governor Perry. Then, it voted to remove the business tax, the possibility of video lottery games and a proposed sales tax increase on auto repair work from the bill.
After the elimination of three potential funding sources, the bill provided less property tax relief, offered limited new resources for public schools and failed to reign in Robin Hood. Not wanting the revised plan to pass into law but feeling compelled to move the process forward, the House leadership sought to pass the amended bill in order to allow the Senate to begin formal deliberations. (By law, any bill relating to taxes must begin in the House.) Rather than abdicating its responsibility to craft workable legislation by sending a problematic bill to the Senate, I felt the House should catch its breath and allow its Select Committee the opportunity to improve the bill.
As HB 1 came up for a vote, new information came across by desk: a revised forecast of how HPISD would fare under the proposed system. Originally, I had been told that the "recapture" of local HPISD tax dollars by the state would be substantially reduced under the new system. But when my staff computed various possible scenarios, dark clouds came overhead.
After confirmation by both the Speaker's staff and Dr. Ben Coker, HPISD Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, I realized that the proposed system would not help our cause. Against the leadership's wishes, I was compelled to vote "no" on the bill.
HB 1 is heading to the Senate for consideration. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Senate Education Committee Chairman Florence Shapiro of Plano appear positioned to discuss a more stable source of revenue for public school districts, such as a reformed franchise tax that I outlined in this column last Thursday.
An uphill climb remains before us. A vast majority of Texans do not comprehend the situation in HPISD. In order to explain my "no" vote to a fellow legislator Tuesday night, I had to introduce the concept of Robin Hood "recapture" that HPISD has endured for more than a decade. The complexity and breadth of public school finance in a state of nearly 22 million people clearly rival the most difficult issues faced by any state.
As we proceed into the final weeks of the special session, I look forward to working with Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and Senators Shapiro, John Carona and Royce West to help forge a better solution than the unacceptable bill that was left on their doorstep.