Robin Hood is Dead. LONG LIVE ROBIN HOOD

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I have been listening to all this ballyhoo that the “Robin Hood” method of school funding that takes local tax revenue away from property-wealthy school districts and shares it among property-poor districts is now dead. I would submit that the Texas legislature has found a means to keep “Robin Hood” very much alive.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: The Senate found a way to give wealthy districts access to a limited amount of tax money without sharing, while at the same time giving more money to poor districts so they won’t fall behind. The changes are embedded in a finance formula that in the future should link rich and poor school districts together in common interest to keep education funding at healthy levels.

What the legislature has done is change the formula for distributing the funds.

In the formula’s basic education funding tier, every Texas district will be guaranteed at least as much money per student as that enjoyed by the Dallas district. That puts 88 percent of the state’s 1,000-plus districts on the same financial footing, with the rest being wealthier. In this funding tier, wealthy districts continue to share their local tax revenue with poor districts. In what’s being called a new "enrichment" tier, wealthy districts can have access over the next few years to as much as 6 cents on their tax rate without any "Robin Hood" sharing, as long as the state guarantees other districts as much money per student as the Austin district enjoys. That puts roughly 96 percent of the state’s districts with equal funding in this tier, with the rest being wealthier. If the state fails to meet its funding guarantee to poor districts, "Robin Hood" comes back.

“Limited amounts not shared”, “guaranteed amounts”, “enrichment tiers”, “equal funding” all this sounds like the same old thing wrapped up in a different packaging to me. And did you catch that? There are circumstances that would allow the old method of “Robin Hood” funding to return. Robin Hood is not dead. He is just relaxing in Austin’s Sherwood Forest that’s all. Cross posted at Lonestartimes.com Squawkbox Noise Subscribe to Squawkbox Noise Technorati Tags: News, Texas, School Finance, Rick Perry, Robin Hood, Taxes

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