Time to Reimagine Texas School District Recapture
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
30 January 2024- Redistributing Texas tax dollars like a modern-day Robin Hood may sound like a noble idea, but according to Dr. Scott Firsing, Republican Candidate for Texas House of Representatives District 47, the time for this educational wealth equalization strategy is up.
In late May of 1993, in the twilight hours of the 73rd Called Legislative Session, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 7– a gargantuan 206 page bill dedicated to reshaping school finance as we knew it. This bill established, among many other things, Title 2, Chapter 36 of the Texas Education Code with the ambitious goal of equalizing public school funding across the State of Texas. It came with the somewhat ambiguous title of “EQUALIZED WEALTH LEVEL”.
Despite subsequent shuffling and fragmentation of this chapter within Texas law, its impact endures over three decades later. Chapter 36's noble aim was to siphon funds from affluent, high-tax revenue Texas school districts, channeling them toward less fortunate counterparts to “Equalized Wealth Level” so, in theory, we all win. What started with a US$127 million dollar budget passed by the state legislature in 1993 has ballooned to a staggering US$5 billion today.
The colloquially termed "Robin Hood" is now officially donned the moniker "Revenue in Excess of Entitlement" within Chapter 49 of the Texas Education Code.
Well the verdict is in; this educational wealth equalization “strategy” is not working.
In multiple education studies comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Texas consistently ranks in the bottom half. WalletHub's 2023 study on US school systems, for instance, placed Texas at the number 28 spot. On the Nation’s Report Card, the percentage of students in Texas who performed at or above the 2022 NAEP Proficient level was only 23 percent. This was down from 25 percent in 2019.
College entrance exam scores aren’t much better. The company Learner, found that the average Texas SAT score in 2022 was a 1001. This is 49 points less than the national average (1050), and 251 points below the top-scoring state of Wisconsin with their 1252.
By nearly every metric, we are failing our students. The five billion dollars was originally supposed to equate to significant improvement in test scores and decreased dropout rates. The cherry on top should ideally be a nice shiny spot towards the top of the best education systems in the nation list, which obviously we don’t have. There is no cherry and numerous school districts have had enough.
School districts like Keller ISD North of Fort Worth and Spring Branch near Houston are even opting out of sending their “Excess Revenue” to the state coffers citing lack of transparency and the need to increase the state’s basic allotment per student, which has not increased from US$6,160 since the 2019-2020 school year.
I’m not the only one asking questions, especially since recapture has become one of the state’s largest revenue sources. The Texas School Coalition points out that the billions are used to balance the state budget. There are also little understood elements such as “Golden Pennies”, “Copper Pennies” and automatic tax compression that even make people working in the State Legislature scratch their head.
What we do know is Eanes ISD in Westlake alone is sending over $100,000,000 to recapture while Austin ISD had to tap into it’s savings by over $50,000,000 to cover its eye watering nearly one billion dollar recapture bill, the largest in the state by far. Which really begs the question: How can it be called “Excess Local Revenue” if districts have to pull from savings to cover their Robin Hood bill?
To summarize, Texas’ education rankings continue to go down, while the colossal cost of the Recapture Plan goes up. It appears we are throwing colossal sums of money into the abyss.
As a former K-12 School Principal, University Professor, and father of five school age children, I know how important a good education is. You know how important this topic is. Nelson Mandela knew: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Similar to Mandela, we need leaders like school principals who adapt to the times and appreciate a higher quality education. They need to use the 21st technological tools available at their disposal and expose their teachers to such resources. These modern tools are not only educational in nature. Using big data, which is basically standard in the private sector, to better understand what is working and what isn’t is a step in the right direction.
Furthermore, we need to bring full transparency to recapture so we can stop wasting taxpayer money. You deserve to have your hard-earned tax money go to your children that are enrolled in your schools in your communities. Our children and grandchildren deserve better. Moreover, all of Texas’ children and our teachers, our administrators, and our school systems in general deserve better.
The true power of a state, of a country, is its people. We are Texas Strong and our education should match.
Scott Firsing PhD is running for Texas House District 47 in Western Travis County. He is a husband and the father to five school aged children. Dr Firsing currently owns a small business headquartered in HD47 so he knows a thing or two about tax burden and how it impacts the quality of life for Texans without improving it. He previously taught at institutions like the University of North Carolina and The Citadel, and ran a private K-12 American school in South Africa. Learn more about Dr Firsing, a Modern Republican for a Better Texas, by visiting scottfirsing.com.