Education & Affordable Housing
Rehabbing Robin Hood
By Shiley Carter
Nov 20, 2003, 14:46

Much like the character that took money from the rich and gave it to the poor, Robin Hood is a hero for some Texas school districts and a burden to others.

The share-the-wealth finance plan requires property-rich schools to give a portion of their money to poor districts. Districts like Pasadena Independent School District have benefited from the plan by adding to staff development, increasing the number of teachers and buying equipment, like computers, that they previously could not afford.

Since 1993, when the Robin Hood law was implemented, Pasadena has become one of only two districts with an enrollment above 40,000 to be a Texas Recognized District for six consecutive years. The Director of Communications for Pasadena ISD, Kirk Lewis said, “It absolutely made a difference for us, in the level of our student achievement.”

Lewis, however, understands the other side of this issue as well. The other side is one that has wealthy districts cutting staff members, laying off teachers and pinching pennies to continue to provide enrichment opportunities for students. A prime example of this is West Orange-Cove ISD.

Chief Financial Officer of West Orange-Cove ISD, Joe Alvarez, said the district is about 87 percent minority and around 90 percent of the meals at the school are free or served at a reduced rate. The district maxed out their property taxes at the $1.50 legal limit and proposed teacher cuts and canceling elective courses, like drama, to help deal with the budget deficit. Last year, West Orange-Cove sent $8.1 million to the state.

“The state needs to come up with a system that provides equitable funding between school districts, as well as adequate funding for everyone,” said Lewis.

According to Lewis, if Pasadena’s property values continue to increase this year, the state will be taking money from Pasadena ISD instead of giving them financial aid.

“It’s kind of a push-me, pull-me issue, where you end up, in the long-run, not getting ahead anywhere,” said Lewis.

Four school districts in Texas filed a lawsuit against the state. They said the current school financial system is equal to a state property tax, which is unconstitutional in Texas.

One of the districts involved in the lawsuit was La Porte ISD. The former superintendent, Dr. John Sawyer, is now the superintendent of the Harris County Department of Education.

Sawyer said the La Porte ISD was close to becoming insolvent if the state did not send some relief. He said some property-poor districts supported the lawsuit, though their names were not listed on it.

“When the ceiling and the floor become the same thing, or effectively the same thing, and districts who lost any meaningful discretion in setting their local tax rates, they’ve capped out, they can’t get anything else, you force everyone into the same taxation level,” said Sawyer. “And a statewide property tax in Texas is unconstitutional. We repealed that back in the 60s.”

Dallas ISD, for example, is not a property-rich school, but because they hit the ceiling on their local property taxes, they joined the lawsuit with the wealthy districts.

Sawyer said the law is not a completely bad law, but there is an obvious problem with the financial plan. He said the lawsuit is not necessarily to get rid of Robin Hood; it is to fix the flaws.

“It was never an equality law. It’s an equity law,” said Sawyer. “And there’s a real difference in that definition and people don’t totally understand that. There’s not two classrooms in this state that are equal.”

Sawyer said more than two-thirds of Harris County school districts reached their legal taxation limit. He and Lewis expect a special congressional session this spring to deal with education costs.

Close to 120 of the 1,040 districts in Texas are considered “wealthy,” Lewis said. “Something has to be done. I think it’s fairly obvious, after about 10 years of the equity financing, that the system is broken.”

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