$3.66/HR

What does it cost to educate a child in Harleton ISD? That is the question that I wanted to answer due to the latest coverage on the national, state, and local medias. They have called for schools to be more efficient, and I don't blame them. We all want our tax dollars to be spent efficiently don't we?

Let's first take a look at what the state guarantees our district in terms of revenues. The way the school finance system works in Texas is that each school has been assigned a Target Revenue Number based upon data and revenues from 2006. This number has remained essentially the same since that time. By taking the Target Revenue Number and multiplying that number by a district's Weighted Average Daily Attendance number (WADA, this is the state's formula for realizing that some students cost more to educate than others) a district is able to essentially determine what their guaranteed revenues will be.

What does this mean for Harleton ISD? Our district's Target Revenue Number is $4952 (the lowest in Harrison County). If I take this number and multiply it by our number of WADA (approximately 1000), then I get a guaranteed revenue of $4,952,000. This amount consists of local tax monies plus whatever state monies have to be added to equal that amount. In other words, if your property values increase, then the state's share decreases.

These are big numbers and probably don't mean a whole lot to you. Let's break it down so that we can tell exactly what the state is guaranteeing that our district will have in order to educate your children. If we take the Target Revenue Number ($4952) and divide that by the number of school days (180) and then divide by the number of hours in a school day (7.5) we get the hourly rate that is being spent to educate your child. The number comes to a whopping $3.66/hr. We are able to provide transportation, food service, extra curricular activities, and instruction from certified teachers for less than what you could pay a babysitter.

Harleton ISD is doing more with less. Let our state legislature know that they must take care of their responsibilities to our children.

Make Education a Priority

Harleton ISD, along with over 500 districts around the state, have joined together by passing a board resolution pleading with our legislators to "Make Education a Priority" during this legislative session. Many school districts are hurting financially and are having to consider painful cuts to their programs. The legislature has tied district's funding to what it was during the 2005-2006 school year, and we all know how much things have gone up in price since that time.

I understand that we all want to make sure that schools are being efficient with the tax dollars, and I agree. We must work hard to "get the most bang for our buck." Harleton ISD recently received a 5-star rating from the Comptroller's office based upon efficiency and student achievement. Our district was in the top 3% of public schools in Texas. We are working effectively and efficiently, but if the legislature does not do something to help, even our great district will eventually "hit the wall" where we will have to face those tough decisions.

Our children are our most precious resource! They deserve the very best, and our legislature needs to ensure that we give all of our children an opportunity for success. Please contact your representatives and let them know that you want them to "Make Education a Priority." Click here to find your senator and here to find your representative.

School Finance

If you have seen the news recently, you know that much of the talk has been about the cuts to state programs, public education included, that will occur over the next couple of years due to the state's budget shortfall. Many districts are having to make difficult decisions concerning programs and staffing. Thankfully, our district has been prudent and conservative with our funds and have been able to run efficiently with less. In fact, our district was in the top 4% of schools in Texas based upon getting the "most bang for the buck" according to the Comptroller's Financial Allocation Study of Texas (FAST) report. Our district received the highest rating of 5 stars.

I invite everyone to view an article that I wrote about the current school finance system and the effects that this system has upon Harleton ISD. It is very interesting, and I feel that all taxpayers need to know about these issues. The article can be found on the Harleton ISD website at www.harletonisd.net.

February 9, 2011

Wow! What a strange winter we are having in east Texas this year! Once again, we are witnessing sleet and snow. Of course, the kids love to get out of school, but they never seem to love having to make up the days they miss.