9/29/10

The TASB Board of Directors has adopted a new school finance plan that replaces the current Target Revenue and two-tiered formula systems with a simpler single-tier system. TASB announced the plan in the press release excerpted below.

"For the first time in its 60-year history, the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) has developed a plan for distributing state funds to Texas public schools. The TASB Board of Directors, under the leadership of outgoing President Sarah Winkler, secretary of the Alief Independent School District Board of Trustees, unanimously adopted the new school finance plan during its meeting Thursday night.

'TASB has never proposed its own school finance plan, primarily, because it is almost impossible to come up with a model that is viable and meets the approval of every school district across the state,' said Winkler. 'What is different now is that all districts can agree that our current system for funding public education is broken – it’s too complex, too unfair and not keeping pace with the educational needs of our students.'

 The current school finance system, implemented in 2006, was intended as a stop-gap measure. Since then, the legislature has enacted significant new accountability goals and mandates; the student population of the state has increased by approximately 400,000 students, and districts’ transportation, utilities, food and other operating expenses have increased significantly.

 “Our plan proposes a school funding system that builds upon the legislature’s efforts during the 81st Legislative Session to implement a formula-driven school finance system for all Texas public school districts,” added Winkler.

 A key feature of the TASB plan is that it is scalable, which is critical given Texas’ current state budget shortfall. The state can implement the plan with modest resource levels and improve it over time as the state’s economic environment improves.

 TASB’s new school finance model is a single-tier, single-guaranteed yield system that would replace the current target revenue and two-tiered, multiple-yield systems currently in effect. In the coming biennium, it would guarantee every school district a minimum increase in revenue per Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) of $30, while limiting any one district’s gain to $200 per WADA.

While guaranteeing at least a small increase for every district, the TASB plan seeks to improve school funding equity by allocating greater gains to districts with low property wealth, low target revenue and/or high percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

 TASB is a nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local public school districts. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve approximately 4.8 million students."

To access more information click on the link below. 

http://www.tasb.org/legislative/documents/planleave.pdf