|
|
 |
Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
First, focus on funding
By Wanda Garner Cash
Baytown Sun Published March 26, 2006 Gov. Perry should stand fast and insist lawmakers fix school funding before they clog the agenda of the upcoming special session.
Though others are clamoring to consider a host of additional educational reform issues, legislators will bring better focus and more resolve to the debate floor without trying to tackle everything that ails public education in Texas.
Indeed, the special tax reform commission Perry charged with making recommendations for the school finance issue is equally adamant that the special session be a one-topic effort. At least until the money matters are solved.
Lawmakers return to Austin April 17 for the 30-day special session. This will be their fourth attempt to adopt a new tax structure to support the state’s $33 billion public education system. In three previous special sessions since 2003, lawmakers have failed to figure out how to give homeowners relief from high property taxes. They failed primarily because lawmakers were reluctant to offend voters – and contributors – by creating or expanding other taxes.
This time around, there’s no wiggle room. The Legislature must agree on a new way to pay for public education by June 1. That’s the deadline set by the Texas Supreme Court last year when it ruled the state’s dependence on local property taxes is unconstitutional. If the Legislature doesn’t find an alternative to the current Robin Hood plan, the Supreme Court will shut down Texas schools. Right away. No more checks from Austin after June 1.
If that looming threat doesn’t sharpen their pencils, we’re in trouble.
There’s hope, however. The tax reform panel, led by former state comptroller John Sharp, has already done most of the heavy lifting toward solving the funding crisis. The panel has recommendations for the Legislature that can reduce property taxes by a third without raising the state sales tax. The likeliest – and perhaps, most unpopular — approach would overhaul the business franchise tax by eliminating the partnership loophole.
Clearly, almost any alternative is better than the Robin Hood plan that depends heavily on local property taxes and requires property wealthy school districts to share revenue with the rest of the state.
Even Speaker Tom Craddick agrees that the state must bear the greatest burden for public education. Currently, the funding equation is upside down, with local property taxes paying for about 65 percent of public education. Craddick said last week that the House is “committed to shifting public school funding from local property taxes to state taxes.”
Gov. Perry insists that the special session should stay focused on “what the Supreme Court has directed us, mandated us, and that is lowering property taxes.”
We wholeheartedly agree and encourage Baytown’s lawmakers to share the governor’s focus. Once the Legislature decides how to pay the bills, the debate can turn to teacher pay, curriculum reform and other school improvement initiatives.
Until then, legislators should be ready to work, compromise and make unpopular, but necessary, decisions.
Editorial written by Wanda Garner Cash, editor and publisher of The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the newspaper’s editorial board.
Baytown Sun Published March 26, 2006 Gov. Perry should stand fast and insist lawmakers fix school funding before they clog the agenda of the upcoming special session.
Though others are clamoring to consider a host of additional educational reform issues, legislators will bring better focus and more resolve to the debate floor without trying to tackle everything that ails public education in Texas.
Indeed, the special tax reform commission Perry charged with making recommendations for the school finance issue is equally adamant that the special session be a one-topic effort. At least until the money matters are solved.
Lawmakers return to Austin April 17 for the 30-day special session. This will be their fourth attempt to adopt a new tax structure to support the state’s $33 billion public education system. In three previous special sessions since 2003, lawmakers have failed to figure out how to give homeowners relief from high property taxes. They failed primarily because lawmakers were reluctant to offend voters – and contributors – by creating or expanding other taxes.
This time around, there’s no wiggle room. The Legislature must agree on a new way to pay for public education by June 1. That’s the deadline set by the Texas Supreme Court last year when it ruled the state’s dependence on local property taxes is unconstitutional. If the Legislature doesn’t find an alternative to the current Robin Hood plan, the Supreme Court will shut down Texas schools. Right away. No more checks from Austin after June 1.
If that looming threat doesn’t sharpen their pencils, we’re in trouble.
There’s hope, however. The tax reform panel, led by former state comptroller John Sharp, has already done most of the heavy lifting toward solving the funding crisis. The panel has recommendations for the Legislature that can reduce property taxes by a third without raising the state sales tax. The likeliest – and perhaps, most unpopular — approach would overhaul the business franchise tax by eliminating the partnership loophole.
Clearly, almost any alternative is better than the Robin Hood plan that depends heavily on local property taxes and requires property wealthy school districts to share revenue with the rest of the state.
Even Speaker Tom Craddick agrees that the state must bear the greatest burden for public education. Currently, the funding equation is upside down, with local property taxes paying for about 65 percent of public education. Craddick said last week that the House is “committed to shifting public school funding from local property taxes to state taxes.”
Gov. Perry insists that the special session should stay focused on “what the Supreme Court has directed us, mandated us, and that is lowering property taxes.”
We wholeheartedly agree and encourage Baytown’s lawmakers to share the governor’s focus. Once the Legislature decides how to pay the bills, the debate can turn to teacher pay, curriculum reform and other school improvement initiatives.
Until then, legislators should be ready to work, compromise and make unpopular, but necessary, decisions.
Editorial written by Wanda Garner Cash, editor and publisher of The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the newspaper’s editorial board.