Texas Budget Cuts
Dill, Athenna
Flores, Esperanza
Flores, Jesse
Fioretti, Ryan
What will politicians cut first, is the question many residents of Texas are asking? According to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Texas is facing a $27 billion revenue shortfall. Due to this shortfall, the politicians are proposing to cut $9 billion from public education. The impact of cutting the $9 billion from public education would include 100,000 school employees losing their jobs, and the closing down of neighborhood schools.
Let us begin with a brief history of the Texas funding for education. The Texas funding for education was based on a formula since 1989 called the “cost of education index.” This formula is composed of two parts, the price component and the scale component. The price component is funding that pays for costs such as teacher’s salaries. The scale component, funds the cost-of-education. The funds from the scale component are distributed based on the size of the school district and the number of students. Although this formula was outdated, it worked for several decades.
The state funding was based on three determinants; the size of the school districts, the eligibility for the district, and the local property taxes that funded the school education system. When not enough money is being raised, then the state steps in with the rest. In the case of an overflow of money, the money is used to fill up the poor districts. The process of doing this is called “Chapter 41” or “Robin Hood.” This means that wealthy property districts are required to share their local tax revenue with the state to make sure that all public schools receive equitable funding. The financial resources for school districts were acquired through local funds or property taxes, state funds, and federal funds which are funds that are allocated towards special groups and programs such as, bilingual education, English Language learners and students with disabilities. Most of the money for these programs was being raised through property taxes. Property taxes are 1 dollar for every 100 dollars spent on taxable value. Of the 1,045 Texas school districts, 70 percent were already at or near the state cap off amount for property taxes. This means that the state was only providing less than 40 percent of the funds, while property taxes paid the majority of education costs. In 2001 several school districts began to sue the state because the maximum cap off for property taxes had increased to $1.50. They argued the state underfunded public education which prevented them from the General Diffusion of Knowledge. The plaintiffs also argued the property tax had become like an ad valorem tax, which is unconstitutional in the state of Texas. The case went to trial in 2004. The Texas Legislature was given a date of October 1, 2005 to correct the unconstitutional portions of the funding system. In order to appease the school districts the Texas Legislature allowed them to tax at their own discretion and had to formulate a plan where they would decrease property taxes and still compensate for the lost revenue.
The main cause of the current school finance crisis is a 2006 legislation that has fallen short of properly funding Texas public schools. The Texas legislature decided to approve “tax swap” or House Resolution 1, which was introduced by Governor Rick Perry, which ultimately is a cut of 33 percent on school property taxes. This is based on 17 cents cut for every 100 dollar value in property for the year 2006 and 33 cents in 2007. In order to recuperate for the lost annuity the state in turn set an 8.2 billon dollar surplus by increasing a dollar per pack on cigarette taxes. Nevertheless, these increased tax changes did not produce enough money to offset funds due to the loss of property tax cuts. The Legislative Budget board estimated that if the bill was passed the state would fall short of 5 billion dollars each year. No matter how good this bill seemed on paper, the fact of the matter is that it has increased the deficit in the Texas schools districts by up to 27 billion dollars, and it also reported that 335,000 jobs would be lost in 2012 to 2013. This is called the structural deficit. In short, the structural deficit forms part of the public sector, which are government service jobs, like healthcare and education. If the government overspends on expenditures with no incoming revenue, then the economy falls into a deficit. This is why it is called structural, the potential for the economy to succeed as a whole does not depend on how well the economy is doing although the size of the gap can fluctuate.
Many states have suffered from budget cuts, 34 states and the District of Colombia have implemented budget cuts on education programs from K to 12 and 43 states have implemented cuts to public colleges and universities and/or raised the tuition to make up for insufficient funding which totaled to an estimate of 800 million dollars in future reductions. In the El Paso Independent School District there was a 22 million dollar reduction as it is expected to grow to a total of 28 million in reductions to cover for the deficits. This equals to an aggregate amount of 43 million cut since the year 2006. At the Ysleta school district there have been budget cuts of 41 million since 2006. There is now a proposed bill in progress that will cut almost 10 billion in Texas education statewide, alluding that by cutting that much money it will reduce $500 to $2500 per pupil expense.
The only hope of keeping teachers employed and schools from closing down is for the Texas Legislator to spend some of the Rainy Day Fund to cover the education deficit. Currently, the Rainy Day Fund is expected to be a record $9.4 billion dollars. The Rainy Day Fund or Emergency Fund was created in November of 1988 when voters approved to a constitutional amendment that created the fund. The fund is an amount of money set aside by individual states that is reserved to stabilize budget funds, used when there is a change in the economy or a change in regular income. This fund gets its money from gas and oil production taxes. In order for the fund to be tapped, there is two-thirds or 60 percent voting requirement by the state legislature. The Texas State Teacher’s Association or TSTA and other groups are trying to fight the budget cuts, and are trying to persuade legislators into spending all of the $9.4 billion dollars in the Rainy Day Fund in education. Texas Governor Rick Perry was in stance about not touching any of the reserves in the Rainy Day Fund to cover the deficit in education. However, Gov. Perry has agreed to tap the fund and only spend 3.2 billion to help close the gap of 4.3 billion for the 2011 fiscal year.
Educators feel that cutting the budget on education would only be punishing the children. Some of the budget cuts would include the eliminating of professional development, which many teachers consider to be essential in preparing the best possible education for Texas’ public school children. Closing down of schools would mean that the teacher to student ratio would increase. Currently the class size limit for kindergarten through fourth grade is 22-1 since 1984 because studies have shown that a class this size works to successfully educate children.
An interview with some local elementary teachers revealed that the work environment has become stressful. 2011 is the last year students will be taking the TAKS exam and instead will be taking a more difficult standardized test called STARS. This changed the curriculum and teachers are now trying to adjust to the new curriculum as well as to bigger classrooms, less resources and less support. Several support personnel from this school has been notified that they will not have the same position next year. The early literacy coach, tutors, and special education teacher have been removed. Other staff such as secretaries, janitors and cafeteria staff have also been notified their positions will be removed. That means the same amount of work has to be completed with less people increasing the workload and tension within the school. Some of the changes teachers had to deal with this year were that they were limited in the number of copies they were allowed to print. Every teacher had a set limit and once it has been reached there is no way to get more copies. The teachers interviewed also expressed that they have less help. Paraprofessionals (teacher aides) are split half day and shared with other teachers. There is less money to buy incentives for students such as money to buy ribbons for DARE or science fair, color paper for announcements, accelerated reading gifts, bookmarks, etc. Two of the teachers expressed their sadness in that this budget cut really affected the students. The students at this elementary were not allowed to participate in the Sun County Science Fair at UTEP due to lack of funding. “It makes it very difficult to teach the scientific method because it is usually covered during science fair” (Anonymous). There are little resources to purchase through the school so the teachers have to apply for grants, which take a lot of time, to get funds for events; such as Earth Day, life cycles, and gardening. Teachers are burnt out and it is hard to motivate them to do any projects outside of their regular job descriptions. This, unfortunately, only hurts the future of our nation, the children.
The TSTA and other organizations are urging state budget-writers to look at programs that are not performing a useful purpose, or are special interest programs that are draining tax dollars from education. Texas is responsible for “unfunded mandates;” which is basically a law that causes local governments to pick up the tab that is not rendered by the state government; therefore, Texas must also come up with revenue for these mandates because these mandates are critical standards of educational quality. In order to comply with these unfunded mandates, revenue must be generated within the state budget.
One way of increasing state revenue would be for school boards to ask their local voters for a tax rate increase of their properties, which in the city of El Paso many voters have opted not to pay tax increases. In 2010, El Paso voted against raising taxes in bond elections for Ysleta Independent School District, El Paso Independent School District, and Socorro Independent School District. Based on the refusal of the residents of El Paso to pay an increase in taxes to stop from education cuts, Texas legislature should use some or all of the Rainy Day Fund on Education.
Texas is not the only state facing education budget cuts. New Mexico, California, and Detroit are also facing budget deficits in education. New Mexico has an additional $20 million dollar cut because they miscalculated the number of students enrolled, and the number of students who need special services. These states are facing their budget deficits by not offering new contracts to first year teachers, increasing students in classrooms, raising property taxes, staff layoffs, including teachers, and professional development funding.
As a tax payer and perhaps a parent of a child who is attending one of El Paso’s local school districts, one wonders how the different districts in town are doing. The EPISD has already faced a cut of 116 positions to save the districts 5.6 million. Also, this deficit might mean the closing down of Schuster and Zavala middle schools. To top it all off the El Paso Independent School District is planning to add 20 more additional classrooms in Bonham and Hughey Elementary Schools. There is a rapid addition of soldiers and their families in Fort bliss; that means 1600 more students that EPISD will have to serve. Apparently EPISD has 12.5 million in contingency funds that can be used for unexpected expenses or construction projects that has been set aside since the 2007 bond. There is an estimated 640,400 that is needed for designing the classrooms in both schools that Boards of education already approved and an additional 9 million for the construction. The superintendent of Socorro Independent School District does not expect job cuts at this point. A spokesman for Ysleta Independent School District responded, “Thanks in part to a district hiring freeze, YISD doesn't anticipate job cuts either” (ABC-7, 2011). Clint is another school district who reported through a spokesperson that they will not have job cuts. The districts of Anthony, Tornillo, and San Elizario are waiting to see if the Texas Legislature will tap into the Rainy Day Fund to determine if jobs will be lost.
There are 3.2 billion members of the Texas State Teachers Association, who are encouraging other educators to call their Texas Legislatures to let them know how these budget cuts would harm our students, teachers, and classrooms. To find out how to contact your legislature, go to http://www.tsta.org/. Texas legislatures must be made aware of how much these budget cuts will affect the education of the children of Texas, and how the Rainy Day Fund can prevent loss of teacher jobs, closure of schools, and increased classroom size. Not all Texas residents have children attending public school. However, everyone in Texas is a taxpayer, and shouldn’t your taxes be used to keep Texas strong and competitive with other states and other nations? The only way to do that is to spend tax money on educating Texas’ students today, so that we can have strong educated Texas leaders that we can be proud of tomorrow. There is a saying that say’s “It takes a village to raise a child.” Texans can be that village by letting our Texas Legislature know that we want the Rainy Day Fund spent on our future, our Texas students.
References
Anonymous, Personal Interview 3, April 2011 (Interviewees requested to stay anonymous)
Hughes P., Reyes M. Legislative Watch. El Paso Independent School District
Johnson N., Oliff P., Williams E. (2011, February 9) An Update on state budget cuts. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214
Rapoport A. (2011, March 21) School Daze. The Texas
Robison, Clayls. (2011, spring). It makes us nervous. Advocate, 30(3), 13-14.
Think before you cut public education. (2010, spring). Advocate, 30(3), 15.
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