The Board of the Trustees of the Clear Creek Independent School District unanimously approved a resolution to join a coalition of school districts in a lawsuit against Texas. Public school financing is a complex and controversial system dating back to 2006 when the State forced school districts to reduce property tax rates from $1.50 to $1.00 per $100 valuation, froze per-student funding based on 2006 property values, and promised to make up the difference through the contentious business franchise tax. This tax never delivered the intended results. The State then came in this last session and cut $5 billion on top of that. Despite these cuts, the Texas legislature has continued to add requirements for school districts, increased accountability standards and testing requirements. Additionally, the State has enrolled more than 77,000 new students this year. "This has created the perfect storm for local school districts," said Greg Smith, Superintendent of Schools. "We are in a situation where the State is requiring more from students and schools but has failed to provide the adequate resources to meet those requirements. We all share in the moral and fiscal responsibility to do what is right for children."The Trustees of CCISD has performed an outstanding job of balancing the needs of the students while our elected officials play games with the funding of our state. I guess they have had enough. Good for them.
I also guess they didn't get State Representative John Davis memo about how he worked hard to provide funding for our Texas schools.
0 comments:
Post a Comment