State Funding Isn’t Keeping Up
Public schools are facing rising inflation.
State Funding Isn’t Keeping Up
Public schools are facing rising inflation.
State Funding Isn’t Keeping Up
Public schools are facing rising inflation.
School finance can be complicated so we will break it down by sources and try to make it easy to understand.
Texas state funding has not changed since 2019 despite double-digit inflationary increases. The Basic Student Allotment which is state funding per student has remained unchanged even while the cost to educate HEB ISD students is on the rise.
In fact, only 34.8% of the district’s funding comes from the state. Local taxpayers cover the bulk of the cost to educate HEB ISD students.
Lower Student Attendance = Less State Funding
To complicate things further, public schools must project enrollment for budgeting purposes, but they are actually funded based on attendance. Unfortunately, student attendance remains lower than the average attendance before the COVID pandemic due to a variety of reasons. The District aims to return attendance rates to the pre-pandemic levels of 96.5% with different systems in place to help achieve this goal.
Current HEB Attendance Rate: 94%
At 94% attendance, absences are costing HEB ISD $53,000 in state funding every day, which is nearly equal to one classroom teacher per day.
Over time, HEB ISD’s funding losses from absences alone can reach over $9.4 million per school year.
Primary Funding Sources
Texas public schools are primarily funded from three main sources, and HEB ISD reserved funds for potential budget shortfalls:
Local Property Taxes
56%
The HEB ISD School Board sets the local property tax rate each year once the State determines the Maximum Compressed Rate (MCR) allowed, while the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) determines the market value of homes and business property within the county or district. The primary source of local revenue is tax collections.
State Funding
34.8%
School districts receive a basic allotment per student that is based on Average Daily Attendance or ADA. This means that state funding is dependent on student attendance, not on enrollment. The basic allotment for Texas is $6,160 prior to being adjusted by the attendance percentage. The district receives additional funds if a student requires special services, such as special education, gifted and talented, early childhood education or career and technical education (CTE) programming.
Federal Funding
0.2%
Federal funding for school districts in Texas varies from district to district based on federal grants and formulas which have potential to change.
Other
9%
In 2019 the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3, which guaranteed all districts at least 103% of their prior year revenue using a hold harmless provision. While most districts added this amount to their annual budget, HEB ISD instead decided to put these extra funds aside for future use to support the local budget.
