February 25, 2005

 

The WISD Perspective on the 79th Legislature

FEBRUARY 2005

The Weatherford Independent School District exists to provide the highest quality education for all students in our district.  Preparing our students for the future and the many challenges they will face is paramount to the continued success of our community, our state, and our nation.  In order to do our best in educating students, the district needs to have sufficient resources.  The following legislative issues, while relatively general in nature, will help Weatherford ISD and other public school districts of Texas in furthering “the general diffusion of knowledge” as required by the Texas Constitution.

RECENT HISTORY

 In November 2004, the State District Court ruled the current funding system unconstitutional.  A deadline of October 2005 was given in the court ruling for the Texas Legislature to fix the funding system for public schools in Texas.  The funding system, part of which is known popularly as “Robin Hood,” was ruled unconstitutional for three reasons. First, the suit was brought because several districts believed the current system did not provide for or allow for adequate funding of public schools.  The judge agreed.  Second, the judge declared the system had become a state-wide property tax which is currently prohibited by the Texas Constitution.  Finally, the judge ruled that the current system did not provide equitable funding for facilities throughout the state-wide system of public schools.  The current system was not ruled unconstitutional because of the tax recapture, or the Robin Hood, portion of the system.  In reality, 88% of the students in Texas public school districts benefit from the tax recapture portion of the system, while only 12% of the public school district students are negatively impacted by this system.  The court prescribed no specific legal remedies, thus giving the Texas Legislature that responsibility and the timeframe in which to accomplish this task.

SOLUTIONS
 

1.  Adequate Funding of Public Education
Weatherford ISD needs additional funding in order to carry out the many mandates that previous legislative actions have placed on the district.  During the court case, adequate funding, or the lack of it, was one of the key components in determining the unconstitutionality of the system.  One finding of fact centered on the cost associated with a state-wide passing rate on the TAKS, the state assessment tests.  At a 55% pass rate, associated costs would be a minimum of $1.6 billion per year in additional funding.  To increase that passing level to 90% would require an additional $10 billion per year.  That dollar amount is an enormous increase over the current public education spending in Texas.   Many areas in the current funding system, such as the transportation allotment and the cost of education index (CEI), have been unchanged for decades, while the cost of transporting students to school and the cost of educating students in general have continued to increase.  Thus, the Weatherford ISD has had to increase local taxes in order to continue to provide a strong education for our children.  We are committed to meeting all of the state requirements, but without adequate funding we will be hard pressed to meet our commitment.

One of the largest controversies in this legislative session will be over what is adequate.  This debate will not only focus on adequate funding but will also focus on an adequate education.  Is there a child in Weatherford that doesn’t deserve the best education possible?

2.  Equitable Funding of Public Schools
Weatherford ISD firmly believes that all students in the state of Texas should have access to the same educational resources.  While the suit only addressed equity in facilities funding, all resource areas in public education funding must be addressed in the solution.  If equity is not addressed, the property wealthy districts will have more funding available to them.  According to the Texas Education Agency 2003-2004 Academic Excellence Indicator System, Weatherford can raise $23.94 per student per penny of tax effort.  That is in contrast to the state average of $24.92 per student and $123.67 per student for Highland Park ISD.  Without an equitable funding system in place, Weatherford ISD students and teachers would be working at a great financial disadvantage.  Equity also means equitable taxation.  WISD believes that no one group, property owners, businesses, young, or old should be singled out unfairly in any taxation reform.  A tax system that fairly represents the Texas economy, today and into the future, must be designed.

3.  Permanent Funding for Public School Facilities
Under the current funding system, the state funding for public school facilities must be reauthorized every two years.  This applies to the Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA), the Existing Debt Allotment (EDA), and the New Instructional Facilities Allotment (NIFA).  All of these funding allotments help public school districts pay for the cost of buildings.  Weatherford ISD urgently needs this help and strongly supports legislation that put an equitable, permanent facilities allotment into the state funding system.  These dollars will help the district to pay for part of the cost of new facilities without passing that cost on to the local taxpayer.

4.  Accountability
WISD welcomes public accountability, financially and academically.  The current state assessments are rigorous and address on-grade-level objectives.  Assessments are given in grades three through eleven.  Students in grade three must pass the reading portion of the TAKS to be promoted to grade four.  Students in the fifth grade must pass both reading and math TAKS to be promoted to the sixth grade.  In order to graduate from high school, students must pass all four subject area TAKS exams.  We think that the current system provides strong accountability measures, and we oppose any additional testing of students.  The WISD supports the rigorous academic accountability system in place and the increased financial accountability being proposed.  We oppose any legislation that would weaken the accountability system. 

5.  Teacher Pay and  Incentive Pay
WISD supports increased teacher pay up to the national average; however, the state needs to provide funding for the increase.  Our teachers work hard and deserve to be paid adequately for their work.  In terms of incentive pay, the district opposes incentive pay that only goes to a very small number of teachers.  Rather, the district supports incentive pay that goes to campuses earning “Recognized” or “Exemplary” status from the Texas Education Agency.  The dollars that the campus earns then would flow to the individuals working at that campus.  It has been said, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  At a highly effective campus, every staff member contributes to the school’s success.  The specific ways that the dollars are distributed to the staff should be the responsibility of the campus or district to determine.

6.  School Board Elections
The WISD strongly opposes a uniform election date of November for school board elections.  Currently, districts are given several dates from which to choose.  We do not hold elections on the November date because we believe that school board races should be non-partisan.  Our schools belong to our community—Republicans, Democrats, and other individuals.  In addition, school board members would go from serving three years to a four-year cycle.  Why change a system that works well for us?  Three years provides a board member with adequate experience.  It also gives the community a more frequent voice in determining the direction of the school district through election of board members.  We believe that the community values the three-year cycle over that of four years.

7.  Regulatory Relief
WISD strongly supports regulatory relief for high performing public schools.  Accountability for the results achieved in the district should have a direct link to the freedom of the district to redirect resources and effort.  When a district is high performing, it is evident that their efforts are effective. High performance requires new processes.  With the relief from some regulatory burden, the incentive is in place for districts to develop and implement innovative, but data researched, processes to improve student achievement.