Comptroller Glenn Hegar is scheduled to deliver the revenue estimate to the legislature on January 12th. This estimate will be used by the newly elected legislature as they work together during this legislative session to develop the biennial 2016-2017 budget. School districts in the oil producing areas of the state have expressed concerns regarding the recent decline in oil prices and the impact of those fluctuations on the property values of their district. However, in a recent article published in the Austin American Statesman, Hegar dismissed worries that falling oil prices would have a drag on the state’s robust economy and remained optimistic about the state’s long-term economic health.
Texas is in the unique position of having a large percentage of freshman and sophomore representatives. This will pose challenges to school business officials as legislators who are largely unfamiliar with the intricacies of the complex school finance funding formula begin to tackle the complex issues of school finance and funding equality.
There has not been a major school finance bill filed as of Wednesday, January 6th; however, there have been a number of bills filed which address portions of the school finance funding formula and fiscal transparency. Other bills have been filed which impact staffing and duty hours which ultimately will impact the District’s annual budget.
HB 52 proposes to increase the residential homestead exemption from $15,000 to $45,000.
HB 361 would require all governmental entities to conduct elections on a general uniform election date in November. This bill could potentially impact both school board and bond elections for districts throughout the state.
HB 357/SB 165 limit the amount of time that school counselors spend on non-counseling and guidance duties to 20 and 10 percent respectively.
SB 156 would limit the annual increase in the appraised value of a residence homestead for ad valorem taxation to five (5) percent.
SB 161 would increase the Foundation School Program (FSP) funding weight for Bilingual/ESL education services to .25 from its current weight of .10.
SB 241 proposes to repeal the linear density formula structure for transportation funding and replace it with an allocation system based upon 50 percent of a district’s actual cost of services.
SB 243/244 would update the Cost of Education Index (CEI) for the 2015-16 calculations of state aid and repeal the Cost of Education Index respectively.
SB 246/247 change the structure that reduces the basic allotment for Districts with compressed M&O tax rates less than $1.00 and increase the yield on adopted tax rates that exceed the compressed rate by more than six pennies.
To review the proposed legislation, simply log onto Texas Legislature Online and search for a specific bill.