During their November meeting, the State Board of Education (SBOE) voted to provide $2.46 billion from the Permanent School Fund (PSF) to Texas public schools over the next two years. That represents an estimated increase of $354 million over the funding level for this biennium.
In the current 2016-2017 biennium, the distribution rate is 3.5 percent of the market value of the PSF. The board agreed to increase the rate to 3.7 percent in the 2018-2019 biennium, which generates the higher level of funding.
One-half of the distribution becomes the Instructional Materials Fund (IMF). The IMF allocation per student will be approximately $218, an 11 percent increase from the current $196 per student.
The board also preliminarily approved formula adjustments to the Bond Guarantee Program. If given final approval on Feb. 3, the adjustment, based on available data, will allow the Permanent School Fund to back an estimated $249 million in charter school bonds as of March 2017 and additional $317 million in September.
About $1 billion in charter school bonds have already been backed by the Bond Guarantee Program. Any bonds backed by this state guarantee carry the highest possible bond rating, which saves districts and charters millions of dollars over the life of the bonds.
The SBOE also adopted its 2017 legislative recommendations:
- Expand the State Board of Education’s authority to review and approve instructional materials beyond 50% of TEKS coverage, factual errors and applicable physical specifications.
- Allocate funds to the State Board of Education to support the creation and implementation of a long-range plan as required by Texas Education Code 7.102(c)(1).
- Ensure sufficient legislative appropriations to increase staffing at the Texas Education Agency, particularly in the curriculum division, to provide adequate personnel to oversee and support the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills review and implementation process and the textbook adoption process.
- Protect the public education funds/services to adequately identify and serve the needs of all special education students by identifying and not limiting the number of students served or funding.
- Remove the limitation on the agency to undertake on-site monitoring of school districts and charters and provide funding for on-site monitoring.
- Conserve public free schools and prohibit public dollars from going to private schools or parents/guardians.
- Improve student data privacy by: 1) providing resources to the agency to ensure that agency data systems maintain and improve student data privacy, 2) passing requirements for publishers and third party suppliers to ensure student data privacy and 3) enacting student data privacy guidelines for local districts that include a requirement for local districts to adopt a plan to protect student data privacy.
- Support the Commissioner’s request for E-Rate support funding for high-speed internet infrastructure for classroom connectivity to improve student access to online resources for all Texas students.