The Texas Tribune released an article last week which covered details of Governor Abbott’s school finance proposal, including a link to the Governor’s presentation, “Improving Student Outcomes and Maintaining Affordability through Comprehensive Education and Tax Reforms.” Education observers have noted the Governor’s staff has consistently reached out to education and business stakeholders to gather feedback on this proposal. It does not appear the Governor was finished gathering feedback when the publication of his proposal was released. Comments from several organizations and individuals in the media range from supportive to cautious to skeptical.
Goals for education and property tax include:
- Differentiated compensation for the most effective teachers, especially when teaching in more challenging situations
- A focus on early childhood education
- Incentives for those districts that achieve targeted student outcomes
- Tax rate compression
- Annual property tax revenue caps to promote housing affordability and economic development
- Reduction of projected growth of recaptured funds, with an effort to keep local tax dollars in local communities