Six Fundamental Principles

By Representatives Linda Harper-Brown , Bill Keffer , and Larry Taylor

Co-chairmen, TCCRI School Finance Task Force

The Texas Legislature is poised to take on one of the most significant policy challenges in a decade. Not since 1993, when the Robin Hood system of recapture was created, has the Legislature been confronted with such an important constitutional matter.

This Legislature has already had to deal with daunting problems, such as a $10 billion budget shortfall, tort reform, and homeowners' insurance reform. But even they pale in comparison because school finance is such a fundamental constitutional obligation of our state government.

For that reason, we are co-chairing a task force created by the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute in order to review the various tax systems being proposed to the Legislature, develop principles fundamental to any tax reform, and promote debate about the end result—because no matter how much is spent on education or how the money is raised, the bottom line must always be the successful education of our children. We believe the following six principles of tax reform should guide the debate: < CONTINUED >

Texas Schoolchildren are Short Changed;

Enough is Spent on Education, But Not on Instruction

by Peggy Venable
 

As the education union lobbyists are demanding an additional $6-8 BILLION dollars for education, taxpayers need to be aware of the real issue. We are spending enough on education but our children are being shortchanged.

It is a travesty that only 50 cents out of every education dollar is being spent on instruction. But what is included as “instruction”? Some education lobbyists are eager to shoot the messenger, so to speak. They are eager to discredit the information on the Comptrollers' website – information the school districts provide TEA. < CONTINUED >

TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION PRESENTS

Effective, Efficient, Fair
Paying For Public Education In Texas

by Richard Vedder, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Economics, Ohio University 
and Joshua Hall, Director of Research, Buckeye Institute
 

Should Texas change the way it finances public schools and delivers educational services to students? That question is being debated by leading policymakers and average citizens, not only in the halls of the Capitol in Austin, but by concerned citizens throughout the state.

This report provides some of the information that Texans need to make informed decisions about public school finance. In the first part, the report evaluates student performance and spending in school districts throughout Texas to identify efficient, effective use of taxpayer dollars and determine if additional funds will improve student achievement. The second part evaluates proposals forwarded in Texas to increase state revenues for public schools and proposes a new role for the state to play in the funding and delivering of public education. 

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