The Texas Commission on Public School Finance will hold their second meeting today. The Commission is officially charged with developing recommendations that would address: 1) the purpose of the public school finance system including the state and local relationship; 2} the appropriate levels of local M&O an I&S tax effort necessary to meet Texas Constitution requirements; and 3) policy changes necessary to the finance system to adjust for student demographics and the geographic diversity in the state.
The Commission during their first meeting heard details on the: school finance legal framework, student populations, workforce and higher education, and the TEA Commissioner’s presentation on Texas Public Education Outcomes. They also heard from Gov. Greg Abbott who wrote a Letter to Texas Commission on School Finance listing his three goals for the Commission which includes to: “change our defective structure of school finance,” which “wisely invests money in our children's future by prioritizing spending that is proven to improve student outcomes;” “create a system that fosters innovation to modernize our education system for the next generation;” and “explore alternatives to the burdensome and inefficient property tax upon which our system far too heavily relies.”
Today’s meeting will start at 10 a.m. in Room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building, 1701 North Congress, in Austin. It will be live streamed at http://www.adminmonitor.com/tx/tea/ and will include discussion on school finance trends and school finance incentives.