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The Texas Commission on public school finance met to hear invited and public testimony.

 

Opening Remarks

  • Thanked those who sent in remarks
  • Invited testimony is limited to 5 minutes
  • Public testimony is limited to 3 minutes
  • Requested 2 best points from each person to reduce overlap

 

Invited Testimony

Jimmie Don Aycock

  • Cost of Education Index (CEI) needs to be removed to help deal with inequities in the system
  • Funding two systems (ISDs and Charters): additional costs per student, recapture costs are higher
    • Should fund charters based on the feeder school allotment as opposed to a statewide allotment
  • Huberty- there has been a request for updated CEI numbers, correct?
    • It should have been done every year, but has not been done since 1985
  • West- discussed changing how to go about funding charters, what was the other method?
    • Fund them the same level as if the student
    • Coordinate need and where to locate them
  • West- changing the cost of traditional ISDs
  • King-What was the cost to the state to update the CEI?
    • It would be huge, that’s why it hasn’t been updated
  • Taylor- is everybody (districts) above the average CEI?
    • Correct, but it compares salaries as situated in 1991
  • Taylor- do you think it’s possible to create a CEI formula that would automatically?
    • Colbert- yes, but it would take time to create
  • Taylor- requested for recommendations on creating a formula for CEI

 

Paul Colbert

  • Money matters if it is equitably distributed
  • Cannot fix the system without knowing what real costs are

 

Barbara Cargill and Lanet Greenhaw, Texas State Board of Education- Long Range Plan

  • Reviewed their survey on Long Range Plan and development of the plan which will have several focuses: student engagement and empowerment, teacher recruitment, preparation and retention, family engagement and empowerment, and equity and access
  • Encourages committee to look at their plan and incorporate the recommendations made in the plan into the Commission’s overall work/report

 

Tom Luce

  • Dramatic decline in progress over the last 10 years
  • The public needs to be persuaded to spend more to get more out of the education system
  • Advised avoiding trying to “do more with less”
  • Williams- can you expand on selling the idea?
    • Need to present 3 or 4 important and large ideas to the public, like a larger investment on Pre-K, and other items that have a large return on investment

 

Catherine Clark, Texas Association of School Boards

  • A new school funding plan that addresses adequacy, fairness, and the growing needs of students who are economically disadvantaged and students who are English language learners.
  • Considered changes to weights of cost index, compensatory education and ELL
  • Brister- if the guarantee was lowered, which districts would lose money?
    • Those which are highly reliant on the golden penny and those with lower tax rates

 

Ray Freeman, Equity Center

  • Funding system cannot be updated until inefficiencies are removed from the system
  • Need to eliminate non-cost-based inefficiencies in the systems
  • Provided examples of simplified funding system
  • Brister- which districts would lose money or gain money, and what additional dollars would need to be provided by the state?
    • There would be considerable equality across the system without additional dollars from the state
  • Huberty- saying that there will be no 41 or 42 districts and that if a tax rate is the same they get funded the same? Those which are not at the maximum tax rate would need to raise the rate to avoid losing money?
    • That is a fair assessment

 

Emily Sass, Texas Public Policy Foundation

  • Need to leverage current resources
  • Untie teacher salaries from longevity as opposed value added
  • Need a growth in charter schools
  • Brister- How would changing teacher salaries be more effective?
    • The teachers that are getting paid the most are the ones that have been there the longest and not necessarily the ones who are most effective. Getting rid of a minimum salary schedule would allow schools to better utilize those funds
  • Huberty- the legislature tried to get rid of the minimum salary schedule, and few schools are still using it. The issue is getting teachers into schools requires certain salaries, etc.

 

Chandra Villanueva, Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities

  • Have not made up the ground lost due to cuts made in 2008
  • Need to conduct a real cost study
  • Brister- what do you mean by a cost study?
    • Should aim high a base it on a “dream school”
    • Consider what it takes to create the ideal school and how much it would cost to fund that
  • Taylor- you are using LBBs numbers for the spending data?
    • That is PEIMs campus level spending data
  • Taylor corrects Villanueva on her figures regarding the state vs local funding, Villanueva states those are details coming from the LBB

 

Dan Casey and Lynn Moak, Moak Casey & Associates

  • Need to meet state obligations
  • Need to conduct cost studies to address specific elements of education
  • Current study process has not been successful
  • Teacher pay: the system for personnel is complex and concerned with
  • Brister- do you favor bonuses for successful teachers?
    • If they are locally driven that is a key element
  • Johnson- requested history on equalized wealth levels
    • The expectation was that 5% of students would be at the equalized wealth level or higher, now a significantly higher number
    • The equalized wealth level has been set to raise with basic allotment

 

Aaron Smith, Reason Foundation

  • Texas should implement student centered funding reforms at the State and local level
  • Need to study successful reforms in other states (specifically mentioned California’s 2013 “local control funding formula”)
  • Need a more robust and efficient basic allotment
  • Limit reliance on local property tax revenue (mentioned Indiana’s HEA 1001 in 2007, eliminated property tax for operations funding)
  • Bernal- in Indiana, was there any evidence that the schools that the students were leaving from also improved?
    • Not a lot of research on that, except that 80% of student transferred to top tier schools
    • Many school have redesigned and revamped in response to students leaving
  • Bernal- that assumes that there are some schools and students that cannot be helped, maybe not a good statewide plan
  • West- Indiana eliminated property tax levies in 2008?
    • Correct, it was phased in throughout 2008-2011
  • West- what are the other sources of revenue for M&O?
    • It is provided by the State, Indiana does have an income tax

 

David Hinojosa, IDRA

  • Need to consider how Texas arrived at inequality
  • Need to eliminate inequality drivers
  • Need to use equality roadmap to ensure equality moving forward

 

Doug Williams, Texas Association of School Administrators

  • Over-reliance on property tax
  • Funding mechanism should be established for basic allotment and CEI updates
  • Brister- increase the state level contribution, in accordance with what?
    • Property values and number of students in the state, etc.
  • Taylor- any estimates on what the basic allotment would increase to?
    • No specific number at this time

 

Tracy Ginsburg, Texas Association of School Business Officials

  • Multiple cost drivers in education and vary over time
  • Local spending patterns differ from district to district
  • Need to be aware of potential unintended consequences of changing mandated expenses like teacher salaries
  • Need to update formulas as well as the expenditure requirements
  • Brister- why do we give money for specific programs if we are not auditing to be sure the money is spent on that?
    • Absolutely need to audit, need practitioners to sit with TEA as the rules are made to better ensure that those funds are being spent as intended
  • Conley-Johnson- precluding use of allocated money to maximize dollars conflicts with mission of education especially when there are so many funding deficiencies

 

Christi Rome, Texas School Coalition

  • Property value growth should be used to add to education as opposed to allowing for reduced funding share from the state
  • Transparency is needed for taxpayers
  • Recapture is an unsustainable burned for districts
  • Taylor- stressed that the state share /local share trend is much smaller that is being portrayed
    • Intended to show the trend line
  • Bernal- seems to be discrepancy of calculation with the shares of local and state, requested LBB and TEA to come up with one data set to use

 

HD Chambers, Texas School Alliance

  • State is not aligning resources to the outlined expectations of college, career and military readiness
  • Dual credit will be the most important aspect of reaching 60x30TX Plan but the number of students taking that option reduced this last school year, issues with funding
  • Ellis- study shows 1% increase in graduation rate leads to 1.7% increase in costs in lower grades, thought?
    • There is a direct correlation between spending and outcomes – “its not rocket surgery,” he says referring to term he got from a 3rd grader on simplicity of understanding need align resources with outcomes
    • Need to align resources with outcomes
  • West- can we achieve the expectations with current level of funding?
    • Yes, for some but not for all students
  • Brister- is military readiness the same requirements as years prior?
    • There are requirements but as a state need to outline expectations for students who want to go into the armed services

 

Guy Sconzo, Fast Growth School Coalition

  • Need to address facilities funding as part of the overall school finance reform
  • Current methods of facilities funding are not working as intended
  • Opportunity to provide direct property tax relief, especially in fastest growing communities
  • Huberty- can you speak to the changes in NIFA funding and why it may not work as intended and how many schools are close to the I&S cap?
    • New increase in NIFA funding but did not change structure of that funding overall
    • The allocation would be dependent on how many facilities were eligible to receive funding
    • TEA is in rule making process but proposed rules do not reflect understanding of enabling legislation that would open the program to renovations to existing structures that create a new school, but are now being broadened to renovations for changes in programming, etc.
    • With that change schools will realize about $200 per student as opposed to the $1000 per student outlined in the bill

 

Barry Hamish, Texas Association of Community Schools

  • Do not consider consolidating smaller districts
  • Continue funding small and mid-size school adjustment because those schools lack economy of scale
  • Brister- discussed specific example in McLennan County regarding consolidation of schools
    • While it may work in McLennan County it will not likely work well in many other instances like in west Texas
    • One issue is that the savings earned by consolidating is also coming from community schools closing their doors.
  • Ellis- study shows that the savings in consolidation comes from military based schools, do you have any experience with that?
    • Do not have good information regarding that but can get that information to the commission
  • Reyna- there are many examples across the state that consolidation may work, correct?
    • Correct, but in almost all those cases, the decision was made at the local level not at the state level
  • Taylor- those recommendations seem to be at odds, there are duplicate efforts. It should not be forced but incentivized basis.
  • Killian- if consolidation is on the table, needs to be stated that charter school duplications exist as well, and the process should be workable across the board

 

Sharon Shields, Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools

  • Formulas need to be updated
  • Additional funds need to be spent efficiently
  • Recommends continuing small and mid-size adjustment

 

Don Rogers, Texas Rural Education Association

  • Inequity is felt especially by rural schools
  • The lower the enrollment the higher the cost per pupil due to economy of scale
  • Advises against consolidation
  • Policy of closing failing schools should be reviewed and there could be other options to aid those schools

 

Todd Ziebarth, Texas Alliance for Public Charter Schools

  • Equitable facilities funding for charter schools is needed
  • Charter schools should be able to contract at or below market value for use of facilities
  • Right of first refusal on unused facilities should go to charter schools
  • West- are we seeing more charter schools in urban areas?
    • Majority are in urban areas
  • West- is there an issue with oversaturation?
    • There are in some areas, like districts in Michigan and Ohio where almost half of the students are enrolled in charter schools
  • West- have there been any suggestions on how to reduce oversaturation?
    • There have been more discussions regarding how to have a symbiotic relationship between the districts and the charters
  • West- do you agree that you don’t need one of each of every corner?
    • Probably not
  • West- need to be sure that the need is met but that there is not a duplication of efforts and requested information regarding this from TEA
  • Bernal- would you agree that the amount of available funds would need to grow to meet the demands of adding additional charter school students?
    • Recommend that charters are funded through the same formula as traditions public schools
  • Bettencourt- is the urban model of excess capacity standard?
    • Correct
  • Bettencourt- is there any kind of studies or case studies regarding this?
    • Sure that there are studies and can provide that to the commission

 

Kathleen Zimmerman, Texas Charter Schools Association

  • Create equity for funding for charters in the school finance system
  • “additional funding” does not account for federal and local funding
  • Huberty- One concern is over a corporate board vs an elected board in terms of using public taxpayer funds, how do you provide assurance that there could be a checks and balances if more funding is being provided?
    • Regarding the funding that is already provided, charter schools have more auditing on both expenditures and progress accountability requirements than traditional districts
  • Huberty- do not completely agree, who owns the building, and what happens to those assets if that school fails. Not fair to say that charters need more funding without the governance aspect
  • Conley-Johnson- are you suggesting that charters have access to I&S funding without having accountability to the tax payers in the same way that districts have high level accountability? And when federal dollars are included, charters have access to that, how does that translate to a disparity?
    • Agnostic about the function of the funding (I&S, etc.) but would welcome additional funding.
    • Will provide study regarding federal funding in terms of disparity between charters and districts
  • Ellis- what is the size of your waiting list?
    • 3,000 students
  • Ellis- what is the size of your district?
    • 1,000 students
  • Ellis- what is your ideal size?
    • To be able to provide a permanent building for kindergarten. would need to add 200-1000 students

 

Jesus Chavez, South Texas Association of Schools

  • Regarding weights, compensatory education and bi lingual weights need to be updated
  • Would like to claim previous allotment plus any increase in property value added tax revenue
  • Taylor- stressed that the state has increased funding for education every year except for the 2011 budget year and that the state is making a huge effort
    • Amount allocated compared to previous biennium can sometimes be lower

 

Louis Malfaro, Texas American Federation of Teachers

  • Funding does affect performance and outcomes
  • Brister- concerned that a 2% increase to schools means that administrations gets paid an additional 2%
    • On a one-time basis that could be the case, but on a systemic basis to increase funding will help (areas like funding pre-k, supporting mentoring programs for teachers, etc.)
  • Recommends considering changes to tax system to provide additional funds for education
    • Natural gas tax exemption
    • Include services in tax base
  • Bettencourt- the state is picking up the cost of pensions true or false?
    • Teachers, districts and the state contribute to pensions

 

Holly Eaton, Texas Classroom Teachers Association

  • Infusion of additional funds is needed in terms of fixing the school finance system
  • Should consider requiring the disclosure of property sales prices

 

Fatima Menendez, Mexican American Legal Defense

  • Need to update the bilingual weight
  • Should conduct a study to determine the real cost of ELL students
  • Brister- are dual language programs the best method of teaching ELL students?
    • Will continue to advocate for the programs the way they are, but would want an increase in weights

 

Kristin McGuire, Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education

  • Need to keep students with disabilities in mind when reviewing the finance system
  • Weights are very outdated, and setting are very different that when implemented inclusion may require minimal support or very time intensive support

 

Steve Aleman, Disability Rights

  • Disabled students are a severely underserved population
  • SPED should be funded based on need of the student
  • Weights do not reflect current educational practice
  • Bernal- can you speak the costs to the finance system now that the cap has been removed?
    • Already been a large leap in enrollment which will come with additional need for support

 

 

Julie Cowan, AISD Trustee

  • Pays more into GR than any other district in Texas
  • Begin immediately to engage with business community
  • Suggests sales tax base expanded to marketing/advertising
  • Study whether commercial property is undervalued
  • Study optimal sizes of district whether too small or too large
  • Keep local control
  • Use philanthropic dollars to help with programs as well
  • Put CEI into basic allotment
  • Refers committee to written testimony for further detail
  • Brister – if they canceled recapture? There would be a lawsuit from other districts since it is not being distributed fairly?
    • Willing to pay into education and pay their portion but until CEI is update the system is not right at this time and would like to see weights updated
  • Bettencourt – AISD taxable value growth has been 12%, 14.5%, etc and it should be 11% in the near future

 

Marky Henry, Superintendent Cy-Fair ISD

  • Highlights best practice – including cohesive board, uniform curriculum, utilize a three tier transportation system, operate food production center in the black, use an architectural prototype

 

Stuart Snow, CFO CFISD

  • Reaching point where they will not be able to maintain efficiency and keep high academic levels
  • Providing a number of recommendations – true tax relief comes with adequate funding state share should be 50%
  • Update CEI, weights, basic allotment and adjustment to inflation, IFA and NIFA funded
  • Eliminate spending level requirements for comp ed and give full credit for homestead exemption in state funding formulas
  • Identify additional state funding sources and dedicate them to education
  • West –  do we know how much an updated CEI would cost? Would like to get that number
  • Bettencourt – asked about administrative expense load? Refers to Southwest Airlines analogy
    • Henry – Universal curriculum throughout the district
    • Henry – Use models over and over again in construction to save money
    • Snow – 3.78% admin cost over instruction, put most of money in classroom and 71% directed to instruction and 68% in the classroom
  • Williams – what is causing deficit/shortfall?
    • Revenues are declining
  • Williams – is there a resource at TEA that allows benchmarking on administrative costs?
    • Get great support from TEA
  • Williams – might be helpful if TEA focused on resource and provided details of benchmarks of successful districts
    • Henry – actual admin costs are less than 2% in the district vs ratio amount that was given earlier
  • Bernal – asked about support
    • Henry – have great business and people partnerships that understand success of district is vital
  • Bettencourt – in regards to $18 million budget deficit what are reserve amounts?
    • $430 million may have to pull $50 million for next year and amount will grow each year without change so will take less than 3 years to draw fund balance down to unacceptable levels

 

Mesquite ISD/TAMU Commerce witness

  • Yearlong teaching program role is to train them and recruit them
  • Teach classes at university and serve on committee of University and classroom
  • Program they have does keep teachers in the classroom, teachers feel they have support
  • Teachers from the program turn into mentors
  • Believes they could serve as a model
  • Taylor – sounds like a unique program? Are there others around?
    • They have partners all over but what makes her unique is that she has one dedicated position at the district
    • Taylor – thinks we should look at how to expand this program
  • Reyna – do you still require a master’s degree?
    • No, they did not see benefits from it and in ETIP program seeing teachers obtain masters

 

Missy Bender, Plano ISD

  • “Taxparency” discussion, many tax payers think that taxes are going to local district
  • Reviews chapter 41 districts paying into recapture, and asked is it sustainable
  • Doesn’t feel like state is paying fair share and system is designed such that state will reduce its contribution
  • Look at effective tax rate to see what part is retained and which part is sent back to the state – they now send $.30 cents for every dollar back to the state
  • They sent out a postcard to taxpayers to educate them on this issue
  • Conclusion she draws is that lag effect on property taxes will leave them with a $40 million hole to fill
  • Believes there is an overreliance on tax dollars and it’s not transparent
  • Brister –  is problem state not bearing share or just turn all taxes into property tax? If raised sales tax it would go to other districts correct?
    • Not saying problem is funding going to other districts
    • Believes there is a revenue issue on the state side
    • Need to be honest and transparent with taxpayers where money is going
    • If we can’t find new money, at least we can provide transparency
  • Williams – M&O on taxes retained, total spending went up around 1% is that lest amount you could access without dipping into reserves? Struggling with that M&O taxes cannot even keep up with inflation.
    • Yes, right
  • Ellis – how long is it sustainable before you cut into fund balance?
    • Need 3 months cash flow and $40 million to cover the hole if it materializes
    • Poverty rate is growing and that is not changing
    • Probably have about $30-40 million that is discretionary, would defer to CFO on how long they can last but would guess about a few more years
  • Huberty – your 40% increase in M&O and student population (54k) and budget of $476k, what is recapture? Increase in value is coming to state?
    • $155k, yes

 

Scott Muri, Spring Branch ISD

  • Support constitutional amendment if state share should be 50%
  • Recapture should support students of poverty
  • Will not have a fund balance in three years assuming state formula remains the same and no increase in expenditures
  • Describes various efficiencies they have implemented, administrative costs less than state and have invested in several programs such as Pre-K
  • Teachers among lowest paid in area, not able to provide necessary level of instructional support
  • Johnson – unless property tax grows above a certain amount they will owe more in recapture than what they take in, what kind of pressures do you automatically face in this recapture situation?
    • Property values have had double digit gains, but it negates any revenue
    • Situation is bleak because of this
  • Bettencourt – credits them for triggering disaster re-appraisal, regarding eco dis population as a “suburban/urban” environment approaching state average, what do you expect out of reform you are suggesting?
    • Expense they incur to educate student in poverty is not funded adequately
    • Using ÂĽ of current reserve about $20 million this year and $25 million next year and would be in negative reserve if possible in year three
  • Brister – agrees with constitutional amendment, believes it would pass but if added would need a 2-3 cent sales tax increase it would be defeated so where is the funding going to come from?
    • Transparency

 

Lillian Potes, Texas Southern University

  • Students are intentionally enrolling in teaching programs
  • Curriculum for teaching programs include content as well as presentation
  • Clinical experiences are being focused on (1 year to practice their trade)
  • Established clinical partnerships with local ISDs
  • Williams- expand on higher education program versus alternative certification programs?
    • One year long clinical residency
    • Over 900 hours
  • Williams- believes alt certification program is roughly 15 hours

 

Marya Crigler, Travis County Appraisal District

  • Provided study relating to property owner’s understanding of their taxes
    • Majority of those who fight their bills are fighting the amount not the appraisal
  • Desire for income circuit breakers from property owners whose appraisals have increased significantly but salaries have not increased at the same rate
  • Examining other counties across the state regarding appraisal methods
  • Bettencourt- how much have you raised commercial values in the county?
    • About 30% per year for 5 consecutive years
    • Getting pushback regarding values being paid in other counties
  • Huberty- you’ve gone back to commercial property owners based on what?
    • There was some level of underappraisal at the county level
    • The Austin market has boomed and are required to be at market value
  • Williams- what percent of sales are reported?
    • Do not get any disclosed sales information but do a lot of research
  • Conley-Johnson- can you speak to practices utilized by appraisers for assessing residential properties, and how pervasive is this issue across the state?
    • Comptroller does some of the same things but is an issue with the state being a nondisclosure state
    • Have been asked to look at data compared to comptroller’s office to determine any discrepancies and why
  • Conley-Johnson- what circuit breakers may be available to help with residents?
    • Some states implement some types to help with income levels
    • Can provide a study regarding this issue

 

Teresa Trevino- Texas Advocate for Meaningful Student Assessment

  • More of the budget should go toward teaching as opposed to standardized testing
  • Standardized tests are being used for more that the test should be used for in terms of accountability
  • Opposes basing funding on standardized testing scores

 

Public Testimony

Grayden Hicks, Fort Davis ISD

  • Extremely low amount of state funding
  • Almost no state funding next year (6%)

 

Randy Willis, Granger ISD

  • Need to determine what does it cost for basic education in Texas
  • Need to determine what outcome is expected for a basic education
  • Using A-F to determine outcomes would be a flawed premise
  • Huberty- is TEA taking advise about using graduation rates?
    • There area a lot of people listening but not being heard
    • Commissioner is getting a lot of input
  • Williams- do you offer full day pre-k?
    • Have stayed with full-day pre-k, benefits warrant cutting other programs first
  • Williams- what percent of kids go into full day pre-K?
    • Many students are not qualified under guidelines for funding
  • Ellis- how long are those programs sustainable?
    • We keep small class sizes and give up athletics funding
    • 76% of funding is for teachers and benefits

 

Sue Diegaard and Elizabeth Santos, Houston ISD

  • Need for full day pre-k
  • Transportation allotment critical for many districts
  • Need to increase bilingual weights, need to update weights generally
  • Troubled by over-reliance on property taxes
  • Should not expect districts to do more with less
  • Need to spend more on mental health and early childhood development
  • Bettencourt- Spending $80 million in recapture, what are your reserves?
    • Recapture payment will be $218 million
    • Fund balance is $366 million
  • Bettencourt- are you involved with the audit process again?
    • Correct, with an internal auditor
  • Bettencourt- what is the status of Cashmere?
    • We need more time to find out if the programs that have been implemented have worked and reassess from there
  • Bettencourt- Cashmere has been on IR for 7 of the last 10 years and the closure option must be on the table at this point, but how long can it remain on the list?
    • The track that we are on shows improvement from the feeder schools that go into Cashmere

 

John Grey, Texas State Teachers Association

  • Need to increase and properly fund public education
  • Need to raise teacher pay

 

Monte Hunter, Parkhill Smith & Cooper

  • be aware of school facility efficiency trends in Texas- 1/3 of expenditures can be facility related
  • understand the fiscal impact of those trends- changing the strategies just a little can save a significant amount of funds which could then go back into education
  • Reyna- many new schools in the area and at significant cost, is that what you are referring to?
    • Would like to focus on the long-term costs associated with the facility

 

Chris Masey, Coalition of Texans with Disabilities

  • 8 different times SPED weights were mentioned in this hearing, those weights must be updated
  • Funding that is currently being allotted does not cover expenses
  • Need to know true cost of SPED
  • With cap removal there will be more kids in SPED, they deserve adequate funding that meets their needs
  • Does not believe these projects can be fixed with grants or pilot projects

 

Monty Exter, Assoc. of Texas Professional Educators

  • Money well spent is very important in education
  • Trend is away from 50-50 funding split
  • Public perception is a belief in spending money efficiently and that the state should bare 50% of the cost
  • Outlined potential pathways to fixing the finance problem which includes lowering property tax rates such as utilizing increases in sales tax

 

Taylor Shead, Stimuli Education

  • Standing for communities of color that have been marginalized and underserved
  • Declining levels of state support forced leaders to cut resources and find out true cost of public education
  • Bernal – asked for examples on resources that are needed & non-negotiables being cut?
    • Start early with universal Pre-K
    • Have had to let go of instructional coach and counselors to being in technology
    • Need to equip teachers with adequate training

 

Diane Ewing, Texans Care for Children

  • Ask for state support for full day Pre-K funding
  • Spoke on several benefits/outcomes with full day Pre-K

 

Heather Golden, HISD Magnets

  • Texas needs well educated citizens to grow the economy
  • Need to overhaul outdate system
  • West – only 3 sources of revenue he knows of – so which one would you remove?
    • Did not say “get rid of” but rather reduce the burden
    • Believes suggestions on franchise tax, corporate tax opportunities that could mitigate some concerns

 

Robin Coswar, Dyslexia Services

  • Mom of public school son and provider of dyslexia services
  • Only 2.9% of all Texas population was identified as dyslexic
  • Huberty – need to identify cost in relation to funding this area
  • Williams – what is ratio needed for trained clinicians to serve 850k?
    • Trained through Scottish Rite and recommends about 5-8 students in each session
  • Bettencourt – discusses dyslexic ratios, says scale of magnitude is enormous and have not heard that before
    • National standard is 1 in 5 students
    • Huberty – reality is until 2013 majority of schools did not identify students properly and could not identify until the end of 2nd grade
  • TDCJ study said 48% of population in prison is dyslexic
  • Johnson – can provide detail on their cost and would say numbers presented are low because it does not include assessment and costs about $23k annually over two years
  • Killian – cost is due to low student teacher ratio, notes his son was not identified until 3rd grade due to some of issues Huberty mentioned
  • Ellis – also has dyslexic sons, asked if cost decreases after starting up
    • Cost level for child would decrease but every new grade coming in would need services so do not see services being decreased

 

Lori Kirkpatrick, Individual

  • Caution against using BAM
  • Submitting statements regarding TEI
  • Do not seek to implement TEI for high stakes use
  • Brister – if we give everyone a 3% raise why do think anything will be different and how do measure if not standardized testing?
    • Suggesting don’t use standardized testing to extent that we do, we overutilize them
  • Martin – on the outcomes working group, how to measure if not using standardized testing
    • Testing has a purpose it is just being mis-used
    • TEI testing English Language, mock testing, etc. and this cost a lot of money that could significantly be curbed
    • Get away from producing test takers
  • Bernal – are you saying exams would be better diagnostic as measure of progress vs how many students passed?
    • Yes
  • Bernal – doesn’t want to abandon something that could produce results
    • You are talking about ACE program, sending in best and can do this without TEI
    • Dallas turned around more with ISN network

 

Gretchen Himsl, Individual

  • Recommends adjusting formula for inflation, update CEI, examine weights, etc.

 

Lynn Davenport, Individual

  • Need moratorium on charters
  • STAAR test is where state is spending “all this money”
  • Know who is on the Commission who is for public education and those for charters – “you want a parallel system”
  • Morath is in her district rolling out ACE program but thinks ACE is a gateway “into TEI nonsense” which will lead to using test to assess teachers
  • Need to get rid of STAAR assessment

 

Nellie Naidoo, Individual

  • State should not supplant contribution to public education with local tax dollars
  • Speaks about recapture in Houston ISD and increasing amounts in recapture

 

Wesley Gentle, Leadership ISD

  • Future workforce and economy being discussed

 

Julie Hinaman, Leadership ISD

  • Reviews what can happen with well-funded schools
  • Need Pre-K, reflect true cost of education, need professional development for teachers
  • Request state to commit funding its fair share, update funding formulas and determine how much it cost to educate students

 

Dale Hedrick, Individual in Kilgore Texas

  • District is poster child of what happens when you repeal homestead exemption
  • Pays a school equalization tax, passed in 1939

 

Arati Singh, Texas PTA

  • Committed to reforming the system to fully fund enrollment growth and realize higher cost to fully educated students
  • Believe several critical formulas must be updated: Comp Ed, Bilingual, etc.
  • Urge commission to expand Pre-K
  • Solution to problem of rising property taxes should not include less funding to public education
  • Brister – asked about Teach for America Program and how to keep brightest college grads in the profession
    • Number of those in program do continue beyond 2-year commitment
    • Teachers want to be treated professionally and given opportunity to teach

 

Jana McKelvey, Texans for Special Education Reform

  • Most witnesses selected to come tell tales of rainbows and unicorns, many failed to mention the unintended consequences like student’s data being shared with unknown vendors, further segregation, etc.
  • TEA is same agency that has denied students access to special education
  • Agency not bringing groups before Commission about this population
  • State is on brink of special education crisis

 

Sarah Perez, Texas Teach Plus Policy Fellowship

  • Provided certain anecdotes from teacher, concludes need more funding for public education
  • Recommends that money for education stay in education
  • Recommends that decline in state funding has impacted high risk students the most
  • Teacher pay matters, need funds to find, retain and leverage leadership of teachers

 

Tiko Reynolds-Hausman, Parent of students in HISD

  • Concerned on states decrease of funding relying on local property taxes
  • By 2021 HISD expected to send $1 billion in recapture to the state
  • Recommends: eliminate over reliance on property tax dollars & replace with State GR and increase funding to public education

 

Stuart Greenfield, Individual

  • Suggestion: take half of appropriated receipts of $3.8 billion and divide by 2 and divide by 2x ADA which would increase the basic allotment, so state can make a greater contribution so then cutoff for recapture is higher so that overtime basic allotment increases, and state is weaned off recapture
  • He worked on PDI and equation that was used, intent would be that it would be updated every session, so the weights would be changed

 

Lea Kiefer, Individual

  • Legislature must modernize system to keep up with needs of global workforce, education is a critical expenditure
  • Increase funding weights for unique populations

 

Kyle Piccola, ARC of Texas

  • Need to figure out the true cost of special education and support special education teachers
  • Need to be sure that transition age youth and getting the transition assistance they need
  • Need to incorporate evidence-based behavioral health services in schools

 

Monica Richart, Self

  • Concerned that students aren’t being prepared for post high school careers or college
  • Need to increase basic allotment and increase state share of funding
  • Need to increase funding weights for unique populations

 

Shay Adams, Lovejoy ISD

  • Need to continue to update, simplify and streamline the formulas
  • Increase golden pennies to $1.10
  • Consider funding schools on enrollment as opposed to ADA
  • Consider investing a portion of the ESF with the revenue used as additional funds for public education

 

Maggie Suter, Texans for Special Education Reform

  • Fund what you value
  • Special education needs to be reformed and improved
  • Scientific data shows what policies we need to have (smaller class sizes, universal design in classroom, etc.)

Minda Caesar, Private Individual

  • Student outcomes are critical and direct connection with funding
  • Focus on funding student success drivers

 

Karen Peck, Spring Branch ISD

  • Fund balance will be down to $13 million (4% of budget) need help in funding from the state
  • Recapture will be $71 million, a growth of 33% over this year
  • Recapture vs. property tax is impossible situation

 

Richard Grill, Region 20 Public Schools

  • All suggestions have been said already
  • Need to get closer to 50-50% split
  • Need to examine the template schools use to determine finances
  • Need ISD CFOs to help determine efficiencies in next finance system

 

Jolene Sanders, Easterseals Central Texas

  • Need to include SPED students needs
  • Follow recommendation by select committee on economic competitiveness regarding special needs services in schools as well as early childhood development
  • Keep SPED students in conversation of 60x30TX Plan

 

Kristi Thibaut, Parents for Full and Fair Funding of TX Schools

  • Parents and taxpayers do not understand why Spring Branch ISD will be insolvent by 2021
  • Need an increase in WADA funding
  • Support increasing state contribution to 50%
  • Requested that the commissioners go to a PTA meeting to see issues and discuss with parents

 

Jennifer Espy, Parents for Full and Fair Funding of TX Schools

  • Questions how the financial situation happens to a financially conservative district
  • State is taking advantage of the SBISD tax base

 

Richard DePalma, Private Individual

  • State must fund at adjusted 2008 levels
  • Fix the education formula through CEI
  • Brister- discussed written testimony (AISD Bond Election Pamphlet)

 

Steve Swanson, Private Individual

  • Change needs to be a top down change
  • Need to audit districts for use of funds
  • Need to fix the finance system through actual costs

 

Kevin Chisum, Guthrie CSD

  • Transportation needs are different in rural areas
  • Need to replace ASATR or Hardship Grants
  • With current trends, expecting to close district in 2021
  • If all extra curriculars were cut, would save about 10% of budget
  • Requested inclusion of aid for single campus county districts
  • King- what would be the suggestion to replace the hardship grants with?
    • Do not have a good solution, but here to identify a real problem and tell GCSD’s story
  • Killian- do you receive a sparsity adjustment?
    • Not the 300-mile sparsity adjustment

 

Dr. Jayme Mathias, Mexican American School Board Association

  • ELL expected to be 25% of student body by 2025
  • Provided 15 recommendations in written testimony but highlighted a small number
  • Funding CTE is crucial
  • Suggests working toward equal level of opportunity for ELL students
  • Williams- written testimony shows recommendation to eliminate student success initiative, please expand?
    • Questions if funding student success initiative is the most efficient use of those dollars

 

John Walch, Private Individual

  • Thinks it is time for a formula that includes penny-pooling for M&O enrichment
  • Would eliminate state aid in tier two
  • Would reduce recapture and possible reduce property tax rates
  • Redirect all state funds to the foundation program

Andy Canales, Children at Risk

  • 1 in 4 high poverty schools in Texas are also high performing schools
  • Recommends funding high quality full-day pre-k and to open pre-k to 3-year-olds
  • Bernal- requested a definition of “qualified” as mention in written testimony be provided at a later time

 

Matthew Worthington, Private Individual

  • Many recommendations listed in written testimony
  • Texas schools are getting poor faster than they are getting bigger
  • Childhood poverty has strong relationships to many negative health indicators
  • No current method of tracking recapture money expenditures
  • Recommends updates to CEI weights and a schedule to review the weights
  • Conley-Johnson- are there any changed to the taxation structure that the commission should consider? You mentioned recapture districts being reluctant to go after the copper penny yield.
    • It doesn’t make sense to go after that copper penny because of the little benefit it returns

 

Linda Litzinger, Texas Parent to Parent

  • Noted disparity in dyslexia numbers due to reporting
  • Huberty- for reference, going forward the feds will require adding dyslexia to IDEA
  • Funding weights need to be updated to provide SPED students with the supports they need
  • Full day PPCD funding should be provided
  • Shouldn’t be a cap on PPCD
  • Should investigate attorney’s fees for districts

 

Amy Litzinger, Easterseals Central Texas

  • Support the goal to be outcome-based in education planning
  • College and career readiness should be an accountability indicator
  • Paid employment should become a focus for students with disabilities

 

Jesse McNeil, Texas Education Coalition

  • Administrative turnover has detracted from becoming more efficient and effective
  • Support the CEI and updating weights
  • Bettencourt- do you have any information on principal turnover rates?
    • Will provide that information to the commission

 

Rachel Dreiling, Private Individual

  • Discussed personal experience with dyslexia
  • Need to ensure that students with dyslexia have the proper supports
  • Huberty- discussed previous legislation that works toward helping those with dyslexia

 

  1. Randall Smith, Texas Impact
  • Supports constitutional provision for an option for the legislature to impose an income tax to support public education

 

Alex Meed, Private Individual

  • Relayed a personal story exemplifying budget shortfall in the classroom
  • Reiterated need for state to pay a larger share of education funding

 

Candice Valenzuela, Carrolton-Farmers Branch ISD

  • Discussed property tax rates
  • Requested high enough funding to raise the median starting salary for teachers
  • Need for increased transparency in funding
  • Need to fund full-day pre-k

 

Charles Chadwell, Round Rock ISD

  • School district resources and needs are very different
  • Discussed equal and uniform provision regarding property taxes (commercial property tax breaks)
  • Taylor- discussed the percentage and per student funding at the local level and state level
  • Bernal- noted that every entity discussed the states low funding percent/share