TFT and Allies Push for "Fair Funding for Kids" at State Capitol

TFT legislative spokesman Rene Lara was a featured speaker at today's Texas Public School Finance Summit (hosted at the state capitol by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project).

On TFT's behalf Lara spoke out in support of a grass-roots agenda of "fair funding for kids," calling among other things for an across-the-board pay raise for teachers, across-the-board funding equity for schoolchildren statewide, and a reform of the tax structure to avoid undue burdens on working families and the indigent.

Lara stressed that much-touted improvements in Texas students' performance over the past decade-plus stemmed directly from a school-finance policy of increasing resources to help students keep up with rising accountability standards. Since the 2001 legislative session, however, that policy has fallen by the wayside, with the state still pushing up standards but cutting back on state funding. Because of the state's neglect of its funding responsibilities, he said, the burden of funding schools has fallen inordinately on those who pay local school property taxes.

Another speaker at the summit, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Democrat of San Antonio, noted the conspicuous omission of equity concerns from the list of priorities mentioned by the legislative leadership for the upcoming special session on school finance. The summit participants all stressed the need for increased education funding--also not an item on the agenda for the special session, at least as far as Gov. Rick Perry is concerned.

As the "fair funding for kids" summit got under way, the state's morning newspapers were filled with headlines declaring that the governor, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Tom Craddick remain "at odds" over the agenda for the special session. Short version: Perry wants only a tax swap (with zero new dollars for education), Dewhurst's priority is "school reform" (much of it ill-advised and not deserving the name of reform, in our view), and the speaker seems tempted to use an ephemeral surplus in the state treasury to lower property taxes and get out of town without considering a major tax overhaul.

Several commentators have suggested that the Republican triumvirate's disarray could set the stage for another failed special session. Only this time there's a court deadline that will trigger shutdown of the school-finance system after June 1 if the legislature hasn't at least found a way to reduce property taxes and restore some local revenue-raising capacity for school districts by then.