EDUCATION : Texas School Districts Learn Price of Sharing the Wealth

HOUSTON —  The great redistribution of wealth is going on in Texas school districts this year. And it is a painful process indeed.

Witness the demonstrations in Dallas earlier this month. Thousands turned out to voice their discontent with the state’s new school finance system, dubbed the “Robin Hood law,” which was forcing radical changes in the Dallas Independent School District. At one point, school officials announced they would have to fire more than 250 of the district’s 8,500 teachers.

The local papers editorialized about what a “cruel price” the city’s schools face so the state can say that it has balanced educational funding. Eventually, enough money was found to rehire all but 50 of the teachers, but not without deep cuts elsewhere.

There isn’t any complaining, though, going on in the North Forest Independent School District, one of the poorest in the state. That district, in suburban Houston, is getting an infusion of $6 million that is being used to fix aging buses, buy microscopes for biology labs and repave parking lots. And property taxes there will likely drop precipitously.

BACKGROUND: Such is the turmoil going on in Texas, where, after years of political wrangling, the Legislature has adopted measures mandated by court order to redistribute educational funds so that the money is spread more evenly between rich and poor districts.

The wrenching decisions being made here are not unlike those going on in other parts of the country, where the equalization of school funding is being touted by some education experts as the issue of the ‘90s. Some form of legal action over the redistribution of educational monies, as well as the raising of funds through property taxes, is going on in a number of states.

“There must be 18 or 20 states now that are engaged in this kind of litigation,” said John Augenblick of the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

While this may be a major issue elsewhere, it is one that was settled in California in 1971 when the state Supreme Court invalidated the property tax financing system. That is not to say that California, and Los Angeles in particular, isn’t facing tough financial problems. In Los Angeles, 2,146 probationary teachers stand to be laid off unless the governor signs emergency funding legislation.

While California changed its system of funding schools, many other states did not. And in the case of Texas, the change came only after a long legal battle in which state District Judge Scott McCown finally rendered a stern 41-page opinion in which he admonished the Legislature to fully fund the law.

“Our founders mandated that the Legislature establish an efficient system of public schools, meaning one that ensures knowledge for all,” he wrote.

IMPACT: Hollis Hood, spokeswoman for the North Forest district, sniffs at critics who say the increased funds won’t be a major boon to her district.

“It’s naive to think that money doesn’t buy quality,” she said. “If we have one microscope for each student rather than having one microscope for three students, the education is going to be better.”

At the other end of the scale is the well-regarded and reasonably well-off Spring Branch School District, also in suburban Houston, which raised property taxes allocated to schools by more than 11% to make up money not forthcoming from the state.

The district cut 93 jobs, eliminated $1.4 million from the operating budget and slashed the number of new teachers for the growing area from 250 to 160. Supt. Hal Guthrie contends that the Robin Hood system brings down the overall level of education.

“The real issue is that the state of Texas spends under $4,000 a student,” he said. “The national average expenditure is about $5,200. Spring Branch spends $4,800 a student. What the Legislature did was take from the property rich and give to the property poor. But the situation is that Texas needs to level up, not level down. Texas needs to hold some good districts harmless and help the ones that do not have the ability (to raise money) by finding new revenues.”