Core Principles on School Finance
Core Principles on School
Finance
Revised September 2008
The following statements of core principles were developed
collaboratively by all participating
Coalition organizations and are a framework for evaluating
legislative proposals related to school
finance.
TEXAS CONSTITUTION
Article 7, Section 1 -Support and Maintenance ofa System ofPublic
Free Schools. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to
the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it
shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and
make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an
efficient system of public free schools.
Adequacy -For the school finance system to provide a "general
diffusion of knowledge," it
should:
•
Fully fund the foundation school program;
•
Recognize the dynamic nature of educational requirements and
expectations, changing socioeconomic
factors, and appropriate cost differentials, providing up-to-date
cost adjustments for varying student needs and district
characteristics; and
•
Provide a meaningful opportunity for each Texas student and school
district to meet all local, state, and federal performance
expectations.
Equity -For the school finance system to provide "an efficient
system of public free schools," it should:
•
Close the funding gap in order to provide "substantially equal
access to similar revenue per student at similar tax effort,"
considering all state and local tax revenues; and
•
Replace the current hold-harmless system of funding with an
adequate and equitable formulabased
system for all school districts.
Capacity -For the school finance system to "make suitable provision
for the support and
maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools," it
should:
• Create stable state revenue sources in order to increase and
maintain the state share of public school funding;
• Cease using local property value growth as a source of state
revenue and reallocate those I funds into public education;
•
Assure funding for enrollment growth and inflation each year;
and
•
Provide state support for existing debt and new instructional
facilities, ensuring that support for facilities meets the equity
principle.
Meaningful Discretion -For the school finance system to avoid
creating an unconstitutional de
facto state property tax, it should:
• Allow local school boards "meaningful discretion" in the levying
of taxes and the allocation of tax proceeds beyond that required to
meet the state's educational requirements; and
I. Provide "meaningful discretion," by allowing a local board's
sole discretionary authority to apply to all 17 cents of its
property taxing authority.
Local Control-The Coalition opposes the use of public funds to
provide financial resources to private elementary and secondary
schools through funding of programs or materials, tax credits, or
vouchers.
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