The Supt Dish
June 1, 2017
During the spring,
the Board of Trustees and I, along with many of you, wrote letters, sent emails
and made phone calls to our elected officials in Austin in an effort for
legislative action to extend ASATR funding for Goliad ISD. Due to legislative action in 2011, ASATR
funds are to expire on September 1, 2017.
Last year the
Texas Supreme Court ruled our school finance system “satisfies minimal constitutional
requirements” however is “byzantine and undeniably imperfect with immense room
for improvement.” The day I was present
to testify for the House ASATR bill, HB 811, State Representative Dan Huberty, who
chairs the House Public Education Committee, presented a new school finance
bill, HB 21. This bill would have provided Hardship Grants for ASATR districts
for a two-year period and injected $1.6 billion in additional funding to public
schools. Although I did not testify on HB 21, I did let Representative Geanie
Morrison’s Chief of Staff, Dr. MacGregor Stephenson, know that we are in favor
of this bill and applaud Chairman Huberty and members of the House Public
Education Committee for developing a new school finance system while bringing
some relief to ASATR districts.
But the Senate
changed HB 21 to reduce the new money the House had injected from $1.6 billion
to $530 million and inserted Educator
Savings Accounts, or vouchers, for parents of special education or 504
students. This was not agreeable and thus, the school finance bill did not make
it to Governor Abbott.
With the close of
the 85th regular session of the Texas Legislature, the Texas House and Senate
failed to fund Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction (ASATR) or agree on a new
school finance system. Goliad ISD along with approximately 150 other school
districts across Texas will lose close to $250 million in state funding. For
Goliad ISD, this means the loss of approximately $4 million, or 28% of the
total Goliad budget, placing Goliad per student funding lower than 2006 levels.
This equates to approximately $2,800 LESS
funding per student at Goliad ISD in 2017-18!
Regardless of
where you stand on school choice (vouchers, education savings accounts), I am
disappointed our elected officials could not come to a consensus to approve a
new school finance system with Hardship Grants for ASATR districts or pass a
bill to extend ASATR for those school districts in need. Education Savings Accounts
seemed to be the issue with the House voting 103-44 in April that no public
funds be used for vouchers or education savings accounts while the Senate voted
21-10 to insert Education Savings Accounts in HB 21.
As we continue to
prepare the 2017-18 budget with less funding and no resolution to a new school
funding system, lets hope and pray that Governor Abbott will call for a Special
Session. Our elected officials need to pass legislation that will provide
additional funding of our public schools, relief to ASATR districts, and not
hold our schools hostage over school choice. As Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman
stated in the school finance lawsuit ruling, “shortfalls in both resources and
performance persist in innumerable respects, and a perilously large number of
students are in danger of falling further behind.” Putting our students in
danger of falling behind, places our state in danger of falling behind in a
global economy.
