Although I am disappointed by the Supreme Court's ruling on the school finance system, I am grateful that they indicated how broken the current system is in Texas. The current system of financing education in our state is inequitable for students and taxpayers, and I would like for you to have some information that shows the differences in funding for surrounding districts. In the figure below, you can see the comparison of the funding differences for a typical elementary classroom of 22 students in districts when compared to the wealthiest 50% of school districts in the state.
These data show that Harleton ISD has $32,480 per elementary classroom less than the wealthiest 50% of districts in the state. Can you imagine what we could with $30k more? While the information presented here levels the playing field by putting every district at the average tax rate of the state (for comparison purposes), we need to keep in mind that many, many districts are getting an advantage like this while taxing at a lower tax rate of $1.04 for Maintenance & Operations (M&O), and the taxpayers in Harleton ISD are being taxed at $1.17 M&O. Our students and taxpayers are getting less and paying more. The problem with that is that our district has to tax at the higher rate to maximize the state's contribution to the district.
As taxpayers, you need to let your state representatives know that you believe in equal revenue for equal tax effort. Let them know that you expect the system to change in order to be more equitable. They will listen to you! The students in our district are just as important as students in other districts! Get involved!
