HPISD Hopes Legislators Up Funding, Accountability
Highland Park ISD is hoping state lawmakers increase school funding and bring more transparency to the “shell game” of school finance during the 89th Legislative Session.
The district’s Board of Trustees approved six Legislative Priorities in November. At the top of the list is raising the Basic Allotment, or the amount of money Texas allocates toward education on a per-student basis.
The Texas Legislature hasn’t upped the Allotment since 2019. As a result, the state’s education spending in constant dollars has fallen by $9.8 billion since 2020, Missy Bender, executive director of the Texas School Coalition, told an audience of HPISD Board of Trustees members, administrators, and parents on Dec. 3.
That’s left Texas hovering in the bottom 10 states in per-student funding, even though it has the world’s ninth-largest economy.
Legislative action is required to change the Basic Allotment amount. Unless lawmakers raise the Allotment, more funds collected statewide through local property taxes won’t mean more money for schools. The state will just contribute less from other revenue sources to reach the requirement.
Another of HPISD’s priorities is placing recapture dollars collected from property wealthy school districts in “a separate, dedicated transparency fund” to ensure that they’re spent on projects related to public schools.
Bender likened recapture to a “shell game.” Right now, it’s hard to say where overflow dollars taken from HPISD to be sent to less wealthy school districts end up.
“It’s one big pot,” she said, explaining that recaptured funds are intermingled with franchise and sales tax collections and other sources of state revenue. “You cannot track the dollar.”
The district would also like the Legislature to reinstate an early payment discount for recapture contributions, which Board of Trustees member Bryce Benson said could free up millions for staff salaries.
As for school vouchers, the district wants accountability standards to be consistent for all educational entities receiving public funds.
“I think our take was to recognize the political reality of our Legislators,” Board of Trustees president Maryjane Bonfield said.
The district’s other Legislative Priorities are revising ballot language to accurately inform voters and avoid confusion, as well as prohibiting the use of schools as polling locations during early voting.
“Our board adopted these six Legislative Priorities back in November, and our intention there was to be very strategic about what we felt was important for us as a school district, and to convey that to our community and the public,” Benson said at the Dec. 3 meeting.
He encouraged community members to share the district’s priorities with their representatives.
“When you see Morgan Meyer at Tom Thumb, or you see Tan Parker out, say, ‘Hey, the failure to increase the Basic Allotment is really detrimental to Highland Park,’” he said. “Without feeling any pain or pressure, there’s really never going to be any change.”