Senate Finance Committee passes school finance bill

From the "Texas Association of School Administrators" website on April 21, 2011:  Senate Finance passes school finance bill

Sen. Florence Shapiro earned support for her school finance plan, which was voted favorably out of the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Several who testified on the bill thanked the senators for providing more money for public education than the House has currently proposed, though the bill still represents $4 billion in cuts to public schools. Shapiro said she believes the bill represents a best-case scenario in what “could have been a catastrophe” for public education.

“I truly believe this is the best that we could do,” Shapiro said. “We’ve said again and again that public education is our highest priority…If there is more money my hope would be the first place we put it is in our public schools.”

Shapiro said the bill goes a long way toward fixing a broken school finance system by moving from 127 districts on formula funding to 650 on formula funding by 2013. Shapiro, who also chairs the Senate Education Committee, said her plan allows for a phase-out of the current system without decimating school districts – a potential outcome if the legislature attempted to do away with target revenue in one fell swoop at a time when they’re cutting funding from the system.

Shapiro said the average cut for districts would be 6 to 7 percent, with the highest cuts at around 9 percent and some as low as 1 to 2 percent.

Sen. Kel Seliger, who had said he would offer up a substitute bill that would eliminate target revenue by 2013 bringing all districts under formula funding in two years, did not offer up his plan Wednesday.

Amendments to the bill, which were rolled into the committee substitute that was approved, were:

1. Restoring the $250 / $500 supplement

2. Modifying the pre-k language so that the commissioner can withhold up to $65 per pre-kindergarten student from Foundation School Program funding in the first year of the biennium only.

3. Modifying the pre-k language to create a pre-k accountability system through TEA rather than the state center.

4. Repealed ASATR (hold-harmless) beginning in 2016-17.

This bill will now go up for vote in the full Senate.