Legislative Agenda – ��Vlog

Texas recaptures millions in tax revenue from ��Vlog

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 21 May 2025 15:00:40 +0000

The article below is the last��in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Each article in the series bites off a small piece of school finance and attempts to give readers a basic understanding of the system in Texas and ��Vlog.

State will recapture about $5 billion this year

Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor.

That’s not exactly what happens in Texas when the state takes money from school districts, but Robin Hood is the name some have given the practice.

The system is now more commonly known as recapture. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) calls it . No matter what you call it, it nets the state billions of dollars every year – billions Texans paid in local property taxes.

Texas’ recapture system started in 1993, conceived to address the problem of unequal funding for schools across the state. The inequity came from the disparity in local tax revenue – the primary source for school funding.

School districts do not collect the same amount of tax revenue because districts are not equal in property value. Some are very “rich” – with high property values – and some are “poor” – with much lower property values. Or one school district may have more properties to tax than another school district.

The higher the property values in a district or the more properties in a district, the greater the tax revenue collected in that district. The “richer” property districts inevitably collect more in tax revenue than the “poorer” property districts.

So, recapture was introduced to equalize funding across the state and make sure all districts have about the same amount of money to spend per student regardless of their tax revenue.

According to TEA, “This section of the Texas Education Code (TEC) makes provisions for certain school districts to share their local tax revenue with other school districts… recaptured funds are redistributed by the school finance system to assist with the financing of public education for all school districts.”

So, take from the wealthy and give to the poor. Kind of like Robin Hood. Only it’s not quite that cut and dry.

How much does the state take?

The “certain school districts” that Texas recaptures funds from are those deemed “property wealthy.”

So, how much does the state take? Recall from the article on the basic allotment that the state allows school districts to receive an allotment for each student – a certain amount of money for each student. The basic allotment for each student established by the state in 2019 is $6,160 – but that number can grow depending on certain demographics or student characteristics (like qualifying for special education or attending a career tech class.)

The money for that allotment can come from two sources – local property taxes and state aid. Whatever portion of the allotment – the $6,160 per student – that is not covered by local property taxes, the state will cover. So, if local property taxes raised enough to cover $5,000 per student, the state would kick in an extra $1,160 per student.

It’s a way to guarantee that every school district – whether property rich or property poor – receives the same amount of money per student.

But what if a school district raises more money in tax revenue than the allotment? Like if a district brought in $6,500 per student, which would be $340 more than the state allots.��

This is where recapture comes in. That district is considered property wealthy, and the state takes the “excess.” It would take that extra $340 in this example. The state then uses the “excess” to meet its financial education obligations elsewhere.

To be clear, the excess does not mean “poor” school districts get more money. All districts, no matter their wealth level, are guaranteed the same amount. But the state does use the recaptured money to fill in the allotment gap for the “poorer” districts unable to collect enough in property taxes to cover the allotment per student. It also helps fund charter schools, which have no property tax revenue and are 100% state funded.

��Vlog is a recapture district

When recapture , the state collected $127 million from 34 “property wealthy” districts. But the program has grown considerably since. By 2021, Texas recaptured nearly $3 billion from 158 school districts and is projected to collect about $5 billion in 2025 from a growing number of districts.

And ��Vlog is one of them.

Does that mean that ��Vlog is “rich?”

Judging by the student population in the district, the answer is no. About 75% of ��Vlog students are low-income, qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

But the ��Vlog area does have high property values, which have been increasing in recent years. At the same time, ��Vlog’s enrollment has been decreasing over the last several years. That means when ��Vlog collects tax revenue, it’s averaging more revenue per student each year. And it now collects more than the state’s designated allotment per child.

So, ��Vlog became a recapture district in recent years. In 2023, ��Vlog sent $1,722,598 to the state, and in 2024, the district sent $2,149,823 to the state. The latest current year amended budget as of March 13, 2025, has approximately $4 million budgeted for recapture.

Perhaps not exactly what Robin Hood had in mind when he stole from Prince John.

Did you miss any of the other articles in this series on school finance? You can still read them by clicking on the links below:

What does it cost to educate a student?

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 14 May 2025 13:00:54 +0000

The article below is the seventh in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Each article in the series will bite off a small piece of school finance and attempt to give readers a basic understanding of the system in Texas and ��Vlog. Check back each Wednesday for a new article.

What does it cost to educate a student in ��Vlog?

That’s not a simple answer because the expense incurred per student can vary widely based on any number of reasons. Each student has different needs, activities and courses, so things like special education services, college courses (covered by the district for high school students), career and technical education classes and athletics or fine arts participation are just a sample of the factors that impact the cost on a student-by-student basis.

Statewide funding per student

According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas public schools were given $15,905 per student in 2023 through state, local and federal funds. For ��Vlog, however, that number was $15,193 on a per student average.

At first glance, the state average of $15,905 per student doesn’t look too bad. But while that number is technically correct, it is also somewhat misleading (). It’s an all-encompassing number that doesn’t accurately reflect current school funding. Here are a few examples of why:

Federal funding: A little over 16% of that number is made up of federal funding. And the majority of that was ESSER funds – federal money that school districts received in COVID relief. ESSER ended in August of last year, so that money is gone. The total also includes the money that school districts receive from the federal government to provide lunch to low-income students.
Bond repayment: Nearly 12.5% of the total number includes state and local funds that districts receive to pay back voter-approved bonds. The overwhelming majority of this revenue comes from local taxes. How that local tax revenue can be spent is strictly delineated by state law. This revenue can only be used on capital expenses like the construction of schools, technology equipment or school buses. It cannot be used for teacher and staff salaries.
Recapture: A little over 5% of the number was recaptured. Next week, our school finance article will explain recapture in more detail, but basically it refers to school revenue that the state takes back from school districts – including ��Vlog – when local tax revenue exceeds the state’s prescribed allotment per student. (Read more about the allotment). So, while school districts had this money for a time, they had to send it back to the state.

TEA’s number was also higher than what ��Vlog actually received, which didn’t cover the district’s expenses. In 2023-2024, ��Vlog received $15,193 in funding on a per student average, but its expenditures were $15,882 on average per student.

Texas in bottom 10 for school funding

Here are a couple of interesting stats that help put TEA’s number in perspective.

The reported that Texas’ “Legislative Budget Board says public education funding has decreased $9.8 billion between FY 2020 and FY 2025 when adjusted for population growth and inflation.” That’s because the state has not increased the basic allotment since 2019 despite significant inflation. That means the state would need to raise the basic allotment by $1,340 to return to the funding level of 2019.
According to the , Texas ranks 46^th among all states in school funding. And the amount of money that Texas provides is more than less per student than the national average.
Inflation isn’t the only factor making education more expensive. Increasing student needs are as well. Across the state since 2020, the number of economically disadvantaged students has risen 4%, the number of emerging bilingual students has risen by 22%, and the number of special education students has risen by 35% ().

Clearly, calculating how much it costs to educate a student and how much school districts receive in funding isn’t always so clear. And neither is our next topic: recapture. But come back next week to learn more about “Robin Hood.”

Why do school districts need bonds?

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:07:45 +0000

The article below is the sixth in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Bonds fund capital needs

If you’ve paid attention to ��Vlog over the last 10 years, you’ve heard a lot about bonds, particularly the 2014 Bond and the 2019 Bond.

And for good reason. These bonds have funded everything from the construction of the Dan Dipert Career and Technical Center and several new elementary schools to the instruments students use in fine arts at every campus.

But what is a school bond?

A school bond program is a way for school districts to borrow money for capital needs. It’s like a big loan. But before the school district can get the loan, it must first seek voter approval. If voters approve, the district then sells bonds for the amount of money approved by the voters. The district will then have to pay back the bonds – or the loan – over time.

In ��Vlog, the current 2019 Bond program was approved by voters on Nov. 5, 2019, for $966 million.

Why do school districts need bonds?

The state of Texas sets the amount of revenue that a school district is allowed to receive in a year – the entitlement. But the entitlement simply does not include enough money for many capital needs. Most of the revenue raised by the district each year from property taxes and state aid (check out the article on school district funding) goes to staffing and basic maintenance and operations. There is no money left to build new schools, renovate aging schools, pay for technology, etc.

So, the state of Texas allows school districts to raise money for additional capital needs through a bond.

What can bond funds be used for?

Texas law governs what revenue raised from school bonds may be used for. Texas Education Code §45.001(a)(1) says bonds may be issued for:

“(A) the construction, acquisition, and equipment of school buildings in the district;

(B) the acquisition of property or the refinancing of property financed under a contract entered under Subchapter A, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, regardless of whether payment obligations under the contract are due in the current year or a future

(D) the purchase of new school buses

(E) the retrofitting of school buses with emergency, safety, or security equipment and

(F) the purchase or retrofitting of vehicles to be used for emergency, safety, or security purposes.”

In other words, bond funds can only be used for capital expenses. They cannot be used to pay salaries.

In ��Vlog, the 2014 and 2019 Bonds have been used for four areas: facilities; fine arts; transportation; and safety, security and technology.

How do school districts pay back bonds?

If you read the previous article on property taxes, you know that the local property tax is made up of two separate rates: 1) maintenance and operations (M&O) and 2) interest and sinking (I&S).

The tax revenue raised from the I&S tax rate is strictly used to pay off bond debt.

Defeasance

The district pays back bonds over the life of the assets it purchased with the bond funds. But ��Vlog also seeks to save money through defeasance of its outstanding bonds.

That sounds confusing, but essentially, defeasance is about adopting methods to save the district money by reducing the district’s debt and achieving savings on the interest rate of the original debt. The district’s chief financial officer and assistant superintendent of financial services consult with the district’s financial advisor to identify opportunities to pay back bonds early and thus limit the amount of interest the district will owe.

For example, in February of 2025, ��Vlog paid back approximately $277 million of the 2014 Bond program early by refinancing that debt at a lower rate, saving approximately $49 million in debt costs.

Check back next week for an article about what it costs to educate a student.

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Public school funding in Texas is based on attendance

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:11:09 +0000

The article below is the fifth��in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Funding is based on attendance, not enrollment

As we’ve talked about in the previous articles, the amount of money a school district can receive in a year is based on attendance. In other words, school district revenue is based on how many students attend school. The more students, the more money. And vice versa – fewer students equals less money.

The key word here is attendance. Funding is not based on enrollment.

So, what’s the difference?

Enrollment is the total number of students who go to a school. It’s the number of students who completed registration and enrolled at the campus.

Attendance is the number of students who attended school on any given day.

So, for example, pick any class at any school. Let’s take a third-grade class at Atherton Elementary. The enrollment in the class might be 22. That means 22 students are a part of that class. On any given day, the attendance might be 22. All the students might be there for that day. But on other days, the attendance will be less. On some Wednesday it might be 18 – because two students are sick, one is out of town with his family and one missed school because a parent’s car broke down.

When it comes to funding Atherton Elementary (and every public school in Texas), the state only cares about the attendance number. The state determines how much money a school district is entitled to based on the average daily attendance – known as ADA – at its schools.

ADA = sum of attendance counts throughout the year ÷ days of instruction

So, if a student misses school, they are not counted that day for funding purposes.

What is wrong with this model?

Even though the state only funds based on attendance, a school district’s expenses are based on enrollment. The district provides teachers, classrooms, facilities, books, materials, security and more based on enrollment. The district provides services – as it should – to every single student in the district. When a student misses school, that doesn’t make it cheaper to operate the school.

Attendance at school is important. Success for students in school often hinges on their attendance. And that’s why ��Vlog – and all school districts – promote good attendance. But there are issues outside of anyone’s control that impact attendance. Students are going to get sick. Flu is going to hit. Plus, many students deal with challenges at home that sometimes impact their ability to get to school.

The result is that the state only permits school districts to receive funding for a portion of its students. The entitlement is based on a fraction of the students who go to the school.

In ��Vlog last year (2023-2024), the enrollment was 54,713. That’s the number of students that the district staffed for and worked to educate. However, the ADA for last year was 93% of enrollment – about 50,883 students.�� So, that’s the number that the state used to determine ��Vlog’s entitlement for the year. In other words, that’s the number of students the district received an allotment for. ��Vlog received funding for nearly 4,000 fewer students than it actually served.

That amount of money isn’t nearly enough to cover the district’s capital expenses – like building or renovating schools or buying new school buses, computers or music instruments. So, ��Vlog – and all districts in Texas – must rely on school bonds to fund some of those things. School bonds will be our topic next week.

School funding starts with the basic allotment

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:42:59 +0000

The article below is the fourth��in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Current Basic Allotment set in 2019��

The second article in this series talked about where school districts get their money and how the state of Texas determines the amount of revenue a school district is entitled to receive for a year. But where does that entitlement number come from? How does the state decide how much money a school district is entitled to receive?

You’ve heard this before, but the answer is complicated. Here’s how it basically works though.

School funding starts with the basic allotment.

The basic allotment is the amount of money the state says a school district is guaranteed to receive for each student.

[Keep in mind, school districts receive an allotment for students based on attendance – not enrollment. More on that next week.]

The current basic allotment was set by House Bill 3 (HB 3) in 2019 at $6,160 per student. (You might remember that we mentioned HB 3 in the first article of this series.) The basic allotment has remained the same since and is still at $6,160. There has been no adjustment for inflation since 2019. There have been other spans of consecutive legislative sessions as well where the basic allotment was not increased as seen in the table.

The basic allotment is the starting point. There is additional funding given for certain student characteristics. For example, there is a small additional allotment for students in approved career and technical education classes. Another example is additional funding for English-language learners and students in dual language programs. Special education students also garner a higher allotment.

Other Allotments

There are also other allotments spelled out by the state that can add to the total entitlement a district can receive. Among these are allotments for transportation – for students who live more than two miles from their campus – for technology and instructional materials and for school safety.

There are several allotments based on district characteristics as well. For example, there is money given for small and mid-size districts and for fast-growth districts. ��Vlog does not qualify for any of those.

Add it all up

Add up all the allotments and you get your entitlement number. It all makes for a rather complicated process. Remember that 78-page document, “The Summary of Finances,” we mentioned in the first article in this series? That’s the document where all the student data is collected and applied to the various allotment formulas to determine the district’s entitlement.

As mentioned earlier, the allotments are based on student attendance – not enrollment. We’ll get into attendance-based funding next week.

Learn about school property taxes in ��Vlog

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 15:50:16 +0000

The article below is the third in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Property Taxes

Last week’s article explained that school districts get their revenue from two sources: property taxes and state aid. Let’s look a little closer at property taxes.

There are two parts to the total property tax rate: maintenance and operations (M&O) and interest and sinking (I&S).

Maintenance and Operations tax rate (M&O)

The M&O portion of the tax rate raises money that school districts use for maintenance and operations. It’s the money that pays teachers, buys supplies, cuts the grass and keeps the lights on.

In ��Vlog, the 2024-2025 M&O tax rate is $0.8128. While the rate is approved by the ��Vlog Board of Trustees each year, it is set primarily by requirements, projections and formulas determined by the state.

Interest and Sinking tax rate (I&S)

Revenue raised from the I&S tax rate is strictly used to pay off bond debt and cannot be used for anything else. So, in ��Vlog, I&S revenue pays off debt from our bond programs, like the 2014 Bond and the 2019 Bond. We’ll post an article later in this series that goes into more details about bonds.

In ��Vlog, the 2024-2025 I&S tax rate is $0.2907.

Total tax rate

Added together, the M&O and I&S rates equal the total tax rate. In ��Vlog this year, the total tax rate is $1.1035. That means homeowners pay $1.1035 for every $100 of property value they own.

This total tax rate is slightly lower than last year and is the lowest rate in the last 20 years. It started decreasing when the Texas Legislature established a compressed tax rate beginning with the 2006-2007 tax year. In other words, the state required school districts to compress – or lower – their tax rates. If the lower tax rates result in reduced revenue for a school district, then the state fills in the gap with state aid.

Additional tax compression was enacted through House Bill 3 in 2019. The rate has fallen each of the last four years from a total rate of $1.3871 in 2020-21 to a total rate of $1.1035 for this 2024-25 year.

Changes in revenue collected through local property taxes do not change how much revenue school districts will receive in a year. As explained in the last article, it just changes how much of the district’s total revenue is made up of local taxes and how much of it is made up of state aid. Read more about how school districts get their money in last week’s article here.

Of course, a falling tax rate doesn’t necessarily mean that your school property taxes will go down – or that they will go up if the tax rate goes up. That depends on your property’s value, which is set by the .

Next week we’ll tackle the topic of allotment – how much money a school district can receive per student.

Call to Action: School funding

On April 10, the Texas House of Representatives will gather to cast one of its most important votes of the legislative session – passing its version of the state budget. This is a decisive moment for priorities like public school funding and improved teacher pay.

Lawmakers can support these efforts this Thursday by voting for any amendments to the state budget that increase the basic allotment and/or increase teacher pay. What happens on April 10 will set the table for what is possible for the rest of the legislative session. Ask your lawmaker to fund our schools and invest in our teachers. Click this now to encourage your lawmaker to fund public schools and support teachers.

Where do school districts get their money?

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:21:05 +0000

The article below is the second in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Two sources: Property taxes and state aid

��It takes a lot of money to run a school district. So, where do school districts in Texas get their money?

Districts have two primary sources of revenue: local property taxes and state aid. The state aid comes from money the state raises from sources like sales taxes, business taxes and lottery proceeds.

Read the state policy in the Texas Education Code .

Here’s basically how it works.

The Texas legislature – not the school board – decides how much revenue each district is entitled to. That total number – the district’s entitlement for a year – is based primarily on the number of students who attend the district’s schools.

How much a district gets per student can vary based on certain student demographics and district characteristics, but we’ll talk more about that in another article. For this article, the important thing to know is that each school district is entitled to receive funding based on student attendance. Add the funding for each student together and you get the total entitlement – the total amount of revenue the school district can collect for that year.

You can think of the entitlement as a pot of money the school district will receive. The size of that pot is set by student attendance. The question is: where will the money come from to fill the pot?

The pot – the total amount of revenue the district is entitled to – is filled with money from the two sources: tax revenue and state aid.

So, then the question is: How much money comes from taxes and how much comes from state aid?

While the size of the pot – and the amount of money in the pot – isn’t going to change, how the pot is filled with money can vary. The amounts of money put in the pot by local taxes and state aid can fluctuate.

They vary depending on how much the school district collects in property taxes. If the school district doesn’t raise enough money from property taxes to fill the pot, the state will pitch in to finish filling it. So, the more tax revenue the district collects, the less money the state will give it. In other words, if a school district’s tax revenue goes up, the state then reduces the amount of aid it provides. If tax revenue goes down, state funding will go up.

So, in Arlington, even though we have stadiums, new entertainment development and rising property values, none of that impacts how much money ��Vlog receives on an annual basis. It has no impact on the entitlement. What it does mean is that most of ��Vlog’s revenue comes from property taxes. In other words, ��Vlog’s pot of money is filled more by tax revenue than state aid.

The big idea behind the system is equity – that all school districts will receive equalized funding. In essence, the system aims to ensure that property rich school districts (school districts that collect a lot in property taxes because their districts have many properties with high property values) and property poor school districts (school districts that are unable to collect much in property taxes because the properties in their district have low values or because the district has a small population with fewer taxable entities) have access to roughly the same amount of funding.

The attempt at equity has merit, but in practice, the system can leave districts underfunded.

Check back next week as we talk more about property taxes.

School finance in Texas is complicated

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:40:46 +0000

The article below is the first in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.

Texas School Finance 101

The 89^th Texas Legislative Session is now about two months in, and education is a major theme. In the last legislative session in 2023, 1,294 bills related to public education were filed. That number has already been passed this time around.

By the time the legislative session is over, there may be some changes to school finance in Texas. But don’t expect it to get any less confusing.

That’s because school finance in Texas is complicated.

Need proof?

The last major overhaul to the Texas school funding system came in 2019. The Texas legislature is responsible for the school finance system and passed House Bill 3 that year, a bill that introduced major changes. That bill was 306 pages.

There are long formulas used to determine how much money a school district gets each year. While funding is based primarily on the number of students who attend schools in the district, it’s not really that simple. There are several formulas that factor in all kinds of considerations, like special education, career and technical education and a whole lot more. When the (TEA) calculates how much revenue ��Vlog is entitled to, it uses a document of data and equations that is 78 pages long.

Even if you can get your head around all of that, it’s still very difficult for school districts to set their budgets. They must make all kinds of projections and then hope those projections end up being correct. When ��Vlog adopts its budget in June for the upcoming year – the fiscal year starts July 1 – it doesn’t know for sure how many students will show up to school in August. That’s a big deal because funding is based on attendance.

So, the district makes an educated guess at attendance, adopts the budget and starts spending money right away on teachers, facilities, books, security and on and on. And that’s all before any money comes to the district to pay for those expenses. Districts won’t start receiving any money from the state until September, and the majority of tax revenue doesn’t start coming until December and January. So, the district must rely on its savings to cover costs in the meantime.

And throughout the whole year, the district really doesn’t know how much money it’s going to receive in revenue until it’s over. Remember that 78-page document of data. TEA constantly tweaks this “Summary of Finances” during the year with updated numbers. So far, for the 2023-2024 school year, TEA has made 33 preliminary versions of that document and 7 near final versions. The final version has not yet been released. That means ��Vlog did not know the exact amount of revenue it could count on for the 2023-2024 school year until well into the 2024-2025 school year.

So, in summary, school finance is complicated.

But let’s break it down. Come back next week for an article that explains where school revenue comes from. And visit ��Vlog’s legislative webpage to read the district’s legislative priorities for the 89^th Texas Legislative Session.

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on academic growth

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:48:22 +0000

Texas’ 89^th legislative session is now in its seventh week, and a lot of bills regarding public education have already been submitted.

Over the last two week, we shared ��Vlog’s legislative priorities for��school funding and safety. This week, we’re posting the priority on academic growth.

The ��Vlog Board of Trustees adopted these three priorities for the 89^th��Texas Legislative Session because the legislation that gets passed this year will have a big impact on public education.

The Texas legislature is responsible for public education in Texas and allocates money for public schools, crafts legislation regarding curriculum, instruction and assessment, and establishes mandates for districts to follow.

Here is ��Vlog’s legislative priority on academic growth:

ACADEMIC GROWTH

Our Position: Students and staff in Texas deserve an educational experience that promotes academic growth and inspires students to learn both content and skills that prepare them for a bright future. ��Vlog students receive exceptional experiences through daily classroom instruction and expansive program offerings. We welcome the opportunity to showcase our strengths and identify areas for growth through accountability. We believe that a comprehensive system, beyond standardized testing, will enhance transparency in school performance and provide a more accurate picture of the valuable services schools offer. We ask our legislators to focus on proven academic supports and a viable accountability system.

Utilize a fair, transparent accountability system for all schools in Texas that receive public funds.
Reduce the over-reliance on STAAR as a measure for student and school success in the accountability system.
Accelerate access to research-based early childhood learning through enrollment-based funding for full-day pre-K for all 4-year-old students.
Continue to allow local school districts the autonomy to adopt TEKS-aligned instructional resources that best reflect our student population.

Read the entire legislative agenda with all three priorities��here.

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on safety

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 15:28:35 +0000

Last week, we shared ��Vlog’s legislative priority for school funding. This week, we’re posting the safety priority, and next week will be about academic growth.

The ��Vlog Board of Trustees adopted these three priorities for the 89^th Texas Legislative Session, which will likely have a big impact on public education.

That’s because the Texas legislature is responsible for public education in Texas and allocates money for public schools, crafts legislation regarding curriculum, instruction and assessment, and establishes mandates for districts to follow. That includes mandates and funding for school safety.

Here is ��Vlog’s legislative priority on safety:

SAFETY

Our Position: Students and staff should feel safe and supported in all Texas schools. The ��Vlog Board of Trustees, our community, and our staff members have demonstrated our commitment to safe and productive school environments through community-supported bond elections, prioritization of local funds, and full compliance with state safety requirements. We appreciate the state’s attention to this policy priority and stress that additional state resources are needed to meet the needs of our students. We ask the legislature to partner with school districts to provide sufficient, flexible, and comprehensive supports that ensure all students are protected in classrooms.

Build on previous proposals to enhance student security through increased funding of the school safety allotment.
Stabilize safety funding streams for school districts and avoid reliance on grant funding.
Prioritize and increase support for student and staff mental health identification and services with flexibility to meet local needs.
Fund Multi-disciplinary Threat Assessment Teams for every school district to ensure appropriate staffing and effective intervention to stop violence before it occurs.

Check back next week for the academic growth priority, or read the entire legislative agenda now��here.

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on school funding

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:46:15 +0000

89th Texas Legislative Session opened last month

Texas’ 89^th��legislative session could have a big impact on ��Vlog.

The Texas legislature allocates money for public schools, crafts legislation regarding curriculum, instruction and assessment, and establishes mandates for districts to follow.

That’s why the ��Vlog Board of Trustees issues a legislative agenda for each Texas legislative session with a series of priorities and recommendations that are important to the district and public education in Texas.

The board’s legislative agenda for the 89^th session highlights three priorities: school funding, safety and academic growth. Today, we’re sharing the funding priority.

SCHOOL FUNDING

Our Position: Texas public schools are currently experiencing a perfect storm of funding impacts. The significant rise in inflation since 2019, the expansion of state mandates, and declining enrollment have forced ��Vlog, and districts across the state, to adopt deficit budgets. We embrace the opportunity to work with legislators on solutions that put Texas back on track to funding our students at previously attained levels. We ask our legislators to provide sustainable, accountable, and predictable funding for Texas students and classrooms.

Continue to allot public funds to Texas public schools and to oppose voucher legislation, ensuring all children have access to a high-quality education.
Increase the per-student basic allotment funding to acknowledge increased classroom costs due to inflation and accommodate educator compensation increases.
Base school funding on student enrollment rather than attendance.
Fund the identification and needs of the growing special education student population to ensure students get the services and education they deserve.
Continue to increase access to affordable health insurance options for public school employees.
Create property tax appraisal legislation that ensures school funding is not impaired.

Check back next week for the safety priority, or read the entire legislative agenda now here.

The Texas 89th legislative session opened today, Jan. 14, 2025

Ryan Pierce — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:31:23 +0000

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eODJQPIs-Tk[/embed]

Texas 89th legislative session opened today

Texas’ 89^th legislative session opened today, Jan. 14, and will run until June 2.

Texas is one of only four states where the legislature meets every two years. The others are Montana, Nevada and North Dakota. All 46 other states have legislatures that meet annually.

The 181 members of the Texas House and Senate will have 60 days to file bills – until March 14 – on all topics under the sun. But many of them will affect public education if passed. In fact, in the 88^th Texas legislative session in 2023, 1,294, bills related to public education were filed.

That’s because the Texas legislature is responsible for public education according to the Texas Constitution. Article VII of the Texas Constitution assigns the legislature the responsibility for “establishing, supporting and maintaining a public free school system.”

The legislature allocates money for public schools, crafts legislation regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and establishes mandates for districts to follow.

This year, the district’s legislative agenda highlights three key areas: school funding, safety and academic growth. You can read the full legislative agenda here.

And be sure to stay tuned each week as we post articles and stats on the district’s blog and social media that highlight our legislative priorities and help explain the state’s complicated school finance system.

Who are my legislators?

Do you know who represents you in the Texas legislature? There are four senators – Brian Birdwell, Kelly Hancock, Phil King and Royce West – and four representatives – Salman Bhojani, David Cook, Tony Tinderholt and Chris Turner – who represent portions of the ��Vlog area.

You can find out who represents you . And find contact information for all of them here.

��Vlog Board adopts legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

Ryan Pierce — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:53:39 +0000

��Vlog's legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

The Texas Legislature’s 89^th session opens early next year on Jan. 14, 2025, in Austin.

Why does that matter up here in ��Vlog?

The is responsible for public education in Texas and determines everything from the amount of funding that school districts can receive to what is taught in the classroom.

Like every legislative session, education is going to be a big topic next year. In the last legislative session in 2023, 1,294 bills related to public education were submitted, and there’s likely to be more of the same this time around.

That’s why the ��Vlog’s Board of Trustee’s recently adopted a legislative agenda for the 89^th session. The agenda is a series of series of priorities and recommendations that are important to the district and public education in Texas.

The ��Vlog’s legislative agenda highlights three critical areas: school funding, safety and academic growth.

Click here for a summary of the three priorities or to read the entire agenda.

And pay attention in January and throughout the 89^th legislative session as we post more information about these priorities and school finance in Texas.

��Vlog issues legislative agenda

Ryan Pierce — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 15:25:27 +0000

Read summary of district's legislative agenda

The opens its 88^th legislative session today and it will run until May 23. The legislature meets every two years.

The ��Vlog’s Board of Trustees issues a legislative agenda for each Texas legislative session with a series of priorities and recommendations that are important to the district and public education in Texas. The district’s agenda for this legislative session focuses on school safety, school finance, human capital, learning lag and parental rights. Read the summary below or see the entire agenda here.

School Safety

School safety is the ��Vlog’s number one priority. The 88^th Texas Legislature should help districts improve security by increasing funding for safety enhancements and additional security personnel, allowing most practical application decisions to be made at the local level and prioritizing mental health by providing additional funding for student services and proactive intervention and by creating a platform that identifies students with mental health needs.

School Finance

The state’s school funding model does not fully meet the state’s education needs or account for inflation and human capital shortages. Legislation is needed that improves school funding and student achievement, continues tax relief and protects local authority. Among the district’s 16 recommendations to improve school finance are calls to change the state’s school funding model to be based on enrollment instead of attendance and adjust the basic allotment for inflation.

Human Capital

School districts across the state are facing increasing difficulty filling all positions, from teachers and substitutes to bus drivers and food service workers. The state can establish policies and provide funding to help alleviate the staffing shortages. The 88th legislature should fund a teacher certification loan program, continue efforts to increase access to affordable health care for district employees and make state-funded teacher incentive programs accessible to all teachers in the state.

Unfinished Learning

The unfinished learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is real. ��Vlog has addressed it head on, and the district’s students are making tremendous progress. Still, there is work to be done. The state legislature should help by sustaining funding for extended learning opportunities for students once federal funding ends and revamping the accountability system to reduce an over-reliance on STAAR testing.

Parental Rights

The ��Vlog believes parents are critical partners with the school district in the education of their children and encourages active parental involvement in both creating and implementing its educational programs. The 88th Texas Legislature should protect those rights by maintaining the rights of parents already established by Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 26.

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

Ryan Pierce — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:27:57 +0000

The 87^thSession of the Texas Legislature lasted quite a bit longer than normal. The regular session concluded on May 31, 2021, but three special sessions called by Governor Greg Abbott kept the legislators in Austin well into the fall.

But it’s over now, so it’s time to assess the impact on school districts. Back in the spring, ��Vlog shared its legislative priorities for the session with a series of articles that examined four of the most important items. Here is a recap of how those four priorities fared in the 87^th legislative session. (Learn more about the ��Vlog's legislative priorities.)

��Vlog Legislative Priority A

Allocate state funds to ensure that public education is not disrupted due to financial hardships created by the global health crisis

When COVID-19 hit the United States in early 2020, it brought school districts all kinds of uncertainty. ��Vlog was faced with many unexpected expenses in technology, food service, personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning supplies and much more. Most of these expenses had to be paid immediately with no guarantee of reimbursement. And uncertainty surrounding the State of Texas’ tax revenue and budget, combined with an unforeseen reduction in enrollment in school districts across the state, fueled concern that districts would not receive the projected state aid they had budgeted for.

��Vlog’s legislative priority A was written with these concerns in mind and asked the State of Texas to hold school districts harmless, meaning that the state should fund school districts at the levels planned for before the pandemic.��

“This priority fared well,” said ��Vlog’s chief financial officer Darla Moss. “The state held us harmless through the entire year.”

The state used the first two rounds of federal COVID-relief funds, known as ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief), to hold school districts harmless, both in 2020 and 2021. Then, in the spring of 2021, districts received additional financial assistance from a third round of federal ESSER funds to specifically help students overcome the learning gap caused by the pandemic.

��Vlog Legislative Priority B

Identify state revenue sources to sustain the finance system authorized through HB 3 and to continue buying down school district M&O tax rates.

��The school funding system in Texas was overhauled in 2019 with House Bill 3. Designed to reduce property tax rates while increasing compensation for school district employees, the goals were positive and necessary. However, achieving those goals required additional funding from the state.

The system put in place with HB 3 in 2019 is beneficial for the community in reducing school tax rates for homeowners. Though lower tax rates generate less revenue for school districts, under HB 3, the state makes up the difference.

The ��Vlog’s priority B asked the state to maintain the system it created in 2019, so that local homeowners can continue to get property tax relief and school districts can continue to receive the same level of funding. The legislature did just that. It funded the basic allotment per student as set by HB 3 and left the property tax compression schedule in place.

While priority B fared well in 2021, it will remain important for future legislative sessions. To ensure school districts are adequately funded while simultaneously reducing property taxes, the state must identify revenue sources to sustain the finance system.

��Vlog Legislative Priority F

Identify effective solutions and appropriate ongoing funding for identifying and serving students with mental health needs.

��Vlog has made student mental health a priority and asked the state to provide resources and policies to support this effort both here and across Texas.

The district takes a two-pronged approach to assist students with mental health needs. First, through the social and emotional learning department, it seeks to proactively reach all students and teachers and equip them with the knowledge, curriculum and resources they need to support their mental wellbeing. Second, in the security department, a threat assessment team identifies students who might pose a threat to themselves or others and then works to provide these students with whatever resources they need to cope and recover.

While student mental health was addressed in some legislation in 2021, nothing the legislature passed has had a significant impact on the ��Vlog’s efforts. The district’s commitment to mental health remains as steadfast as ever though, especially in the wake of COVID-19, and was even included in its new strategic plan.

Though the 87th legislative session did not positively impact the district’s social and emotional learning department, SEL director Luis Valdespino and his team have been relentless in pursuing their vision that “all students will possess the social and emotional skills necessary to maintain self-worth and to thrive in their communities.”

“During the pandemic, we’ve really escalated our counselors’ availability,” Valdespino said. “We’ve increased SEL resources for all grade levels to help our students grow in the competencies: 1) self-awareness, 2) self-management, 3) social awareness, 4) relationship skills and 5) responsible decision making.”

While the SEL department hasn’t missed a beat, ��Vlog’s security department has suffered from the state’s failure to provide funding for the Multidisciplinary Threat Assessment Team (MTAT).

The main goal of the MTAT is to promote a safe school environment by identifying at-risk students who may present a public safety concern, assess their risk for engaging in violence or other harmful activities, and identify intervention strategies to assist them in being productive students. Even though the MTAT is mandated by the state, the state provides no funding for it.

Dr. Nkechi Madueke, ��Vlog’s coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Threat Assessment Team, considers the legislature’s efforts in this area to be a failure.

“The increase in mental health needs for our students, families and staff has been incredible, most likely due to the impact of the pandemic, and the state has provided no relief,” she said.

With no funding, the ��Vlog’s MTAT lost a valuable team member. A grant in 2018 got the program off the ground in ��Vlog and provided the salaries for the MTAT members. However, the grant expired at the end of 2021. Arlington Police Department has absorbed the cost for its responsibilities and ��Vlog is taking on the district’s related salary and expenses, but the funding for a representative from MHMR (My Health My Resources of Tarrant County) ended and she has been lost from the team.

“This unfunded mandate really hampers what the state is wanting to accomplish,” said David Stevens, ��Vlog director or security. “It’s a great idea, but by not having the money, you can’t build the teams you need.”

��Vlog Legislative Priority G

Ensure the clear direction about governance and authority for decisions in Texas public schools as established in the limitation on authority section in Texas Education Code § 7.003 that states “An educational function not specifically delegated to the agency [Texas Education Agency] or the board [State Board of Education] under this code is reserved to and shall be performed by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools” is respected in all proposed legislation

Legislative priority G reflects ��Vlog’s stance that school districts in Texas should be run and managed at the local level. Protecting local authority empowers school districts to find and implement policies and solutions that work best in their area.

This principle of local authority is widely recognized and even codified in Texas law. However, there are bills every legislative session, along with moves made by the Commissioner of Education – who heads the TEA – that aim to take some control away from districts and give it to the TEA.

��The 87^th legislative session was no different and produced both positives and negatives for local authority.

“I think it was a mixed bag,” said ��Vlog Trustee Justin Chapa, “like most legislative sessions.”

On the positive side, Chapa was pleased that legislation that would have restricted school districts from hiring legislative consultants did not pass. School board trustees are volunteers who must deal with a host of complicated topics, including school finance and accountability. ��Vlog, like other districts, hire legislative consultants to help school boards navigate issues like these and communicate their needs and priorities with Austin.

“That would really weaken local authority by making it a lot harder for us to do our jobs in an informed way,” Chapa said.

On the negative side, Chapa expressed concern over the vague language in new rules regarding curriculum. The state’s new directives are not fully understood yet and have caused confusion and concern among some teachers and curriculum specialists over how they can write lessons and teach them. It’s another example of the state restricting what the locally elected school boards and local teachers can do.��

Overall, this session continued the legislative trend of greater state control and expanded TEA authority for decisions that are better made at the district level. This issue will continue to be significant and topical in the 88th Session of the Texas Legislature.

LEARN ABOUT ARLINGTON ISD’S LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Ryan Pierce — Tue, 25 May 2021 21:15:31 +0000

The 87th Texas Legislature convened on Jan. 12, 2021, and will adjourn May 31, 2021. The legislature meets every two years to set the state’s budget and consider and implement new legislation. For each legislative session, the ��Vlog issues a legislative agenda with a series of priorities that are important to the district and public education in Texas. The district shares the agenda and priorities with our elected officials and seeks their support.

��The article below is the fifth in a series designed to share and explain the district’s legislative priorities with our stakeholders. This story addresses Legislative Priority G. For more information on all the priorities and to read the entire legislative agenda, please visit aisd.net/district/legislative-agenda.

��Vlog Legislative Priority G

Ensure the clear direction about governance and authority for decisions in Texas public schools as established in the limitation on authority section in Texas Education Code that states “An educational function not specifically delegated to the agency [Texas Education Agency] or the board [State Board of Education] under this code is reserved to and shall be performed by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools” is respected in all proposed legislation

��Vlog believes that school districts in Texas should be run and managed at the local level. Protecting local authority empowers school districts to find and implement policies and solutions that work best in their area.

State and district roles

The state does have an important role to play in education. That role is performed by the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The SBOE’s function is to set statewide policy by adopting the curriculum, assessments and programs for the state. The TEA’s job then is to implement and administer the curriculum and policies established by the SBOE.

Their role is not to micromanage or govern districts. That responsibility belongs to the democratically elected board of trustees and administration for each school district.

“Historically, local school districts have had the biggest say in how education is conducted in their communities,” said Justin Chapa, ��Vlog trustee and the chair of the Board’s governance committee.

Districts are all different

There is good reason for letting local school districts govern themselves. No two school districts are exactly the same.

Districts vary in numbers of students and their physical settings – urban, suburban or rural. They have differences in population demographics, socioeconomics, resources, needs, weather and more. The unique characteristics of each area shape the school districts, their students and staff. The challenges and realities ��Vlog faces are not identical to those in Houston, El Paso, Midland or even our nearby neighbors like Dallas and Fort Worth. And likewise, the best policies and most effective solutions for ��Vlog are often not the same as those in other districts.

“There’s almost 1,100 school districts in Texas and we’re different than the vast majority of them,” Chapa said. “It is helpful for us to be able to determine more things in terms of how it affects us as opposed to a one size fits all solution.”

In most cases, the local school board and administration understand their district’s unique characteristics, their students and staff, and their challenges and opportunities better than anyone at the state level. They are therefore best suited to guide and direct their own schools.

Local authority under attack

This principle of local authority is widely recognized and even codified in Texas law. Texas Education Code § 7.003 states, “An educational function not specifically delegated to the agency [Texas Education Agency] or the board [State Board of Education] under this code is reserved to and shall be performed by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools.”

However, there are bills every legislative session, along with moves made by the Commissioner of Education – who heads the TEA – that aim to take some control away from districts and give it to the TEA.

“What we’re facing now, and what I think has been a trend over at least the last 10 if not 20 years, is a gradual chipping away at school districts’ authority to do a whole host of things, from the relatively benign to some pretty substantive matters,” Chapa said.

��Vlog’s legislative priority G comes out of this concern and asks the state legislature to honor and protect the principle of local authority for school districts. Taking control away from the local district, where the problems, dynamics and solutions are best understood, can actually impede progress and introduce new problems.

Local authority in ��Vlog’s legislative agenda

Our legislative agenda includes seven ways the legislature can protect local authority:

1. Recognize TEC § 7.003 as the statutory basis for governance and authority for decision-making in Texas.
  ��
2. Review administrative rules established by the Commissioner of Education to ensure alignment with legislative intent and limit the authority of the Commissioner of Education to unilaterally establish administrative rules, guidelines and procedures.
  ��
3. Prohibit the Commissioner of Education from unilaterally displacing local elected school boards, except as may be temporarily necessary to address cases of severe, system-wide misconduct.
  ��
4. Reject legislation that expands required ballot language, mandates November election dates or requires a super majority for school bond and tax rate elections.
  ��
5. Reject legislation that would limit the ability of districts to join organizations that advocate on behalf of school districts or other public entities.
  ��
6. Provide relief from existing unfunded state mandates and reject new unfunded state mandates.
  ��
7. Amend the Texas Open Meetings Act to permanently allow local boards or individual trustees to attend meetings virtually through mechanisms found to be effective during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The local board of trustees, working in line with state standards and in partnership with the SBOE and TEA, is most often best suited to govern and manage the school district, identify local challenges and issues, and implement solutions and policies that work best for its local population. The Texas legislature should ensure the principle of local authority is protected.

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

Ryan Pierce — Fri, 21 May 2021 15:26:20 +0000

��The article below is the fourth in a series designed to share and explain the district’s legislative priorities with our stakeholders. This story addresses Legislative Priority F. For more information on all the priorities and to read the entire legislative agenda, please visit aisd.net/district/legislative-affairs.

��Vlog Legislative Priority F

Identify effective solutions and appropriate ongoing funding for identifying and serving students with mental health needs.

��Vlog has made student mental health a priority and asks the state to provide resources and policies to support this effort both here and across Texas.

“We know our students have a lot of things to deal with, and even more during COVID-19,” said ��Vlog Board of Trustees president Kecia Mays. “It is crucial for a district to consider the mental health needs of our students and staff and do what we can to promote their holistic health. It’s imperative for the wellbeing and safety of everyone.”

What ��Vlog does for student mental health

Second, in the security department, a threat assessment team identifies students who might pose a threat to themselves or others and then works to provide these students with whatever resources they need to cope and recover.

1) Social and Emotional Learning

��Vlog’s social and emotional learning (SEL) department was created several years ago with a vision that “all students will possess the social and emotional skills necessary to maintain self-worth and to thrive in their communities.”

“When we use the term self-worth, that means that they are mentally healthy,” said Luis Valdespino, senior director of the district’s social and emotional learning department. “To do that, we have to teach them the skills to be mentally healthy.”

To teach those skills, the SEL department is developing and implementing curriculum for students and strategies for teachers that address five competencies: 1) self-awareness, 2) self-management, 3) social awareness, 4) relationship skills and 5) responsible decision making.

“Our goal is for our kids to attain all of these competencies through direct instruction and learning opportunities,” Valdespino said.

In addition to the curriculum piece directed toward all students, the SEL department also provides additional resources and services for students with individual needs. School counselors take the lead for many of these efforts.

“During the pandemic, we’ve really escalated our counselors’ availability,” Valdespino said.

New hotlines were started to assist students and parents with mental health needs and community resources. A referral process was initiated for students who need counseling, and a new after-school-hours counseling clinic is starting this month. Through the clinic, students and staff can receive in-person or virtual counseling from ��Vlog counselors and staff who are licensed therapists at no cost. Other initiatives include an app coming next school year that will allow teachers to survey students about their social and emotional learning and immediately offer intervention videos based on responses.

Another example of the resources the district offers comes from the student outreach services (SOS), an arm of the SEL department. Social workers and counselors from SOS assist homeless students and connect their families with resources outside the district.

To learn more about SEL, click here to visit the department webpage.

2) Security and threat assessments

Two years ago, the ��Vlog formed a partnership with the and (MHMR) and launched a Multidisciplinary Threat Assessment Team (MTAT). The main goal of the MTAT is to promote a safe school environment by identifying at-risk students who may present a public safety concern, assess their risk for engaging in violence or other harmful activities, and identify intervention strategies to assist them in being productive students.

The MTAT includes a representative from ��Vlog, a social worker from the APD and a social worker from MHMR. Together the team oversees and provides support for campus level teams that work directly with and assess at-risk students.

If a student makes a threat, exhibits threatening behavior or displays suicidal ideation, a thorough assessment is conducted of the student’s needs along with his or her family’s needs. The MTAT then works to make sure those needs are met.

“This team is going to dive in and do whatever it takes,” said David Stevens, ��Vlog director of security.

The MTAT has many community partners that help provide whatever resources are needed, whether it’s for mental health, physical wellbeing, food security, social issues and more.

“Even if they need housing, we have resources for that,” Stevens said.

The goal is to restore the student.

“It’s not punitive,” said Dr. Nkechi Madueke, ��Vlog’s multidisciplinary student supports coordinator and leader of the MTAT team. “It’s about rehabilitation.”

And it’s working.

“We do have a lot of students who are getting more resources outside of school,” Madueke said. “The families are getting support. Students are getting in to see doctors or therapists or whatever they need. They are getting more support than they might have in the past because we are identifying them earlier.”

��Vlog’s MTAT is also ahead of the curve.

A year after the MTAT was established in Arlington, the Texas legislature made this type of program mandatory at every school district in Texas.

“So many districts are still trying to figure out how to do this. Our team is already there,” Stevens said.

And many districts are now looking to ��Vlog as the model to copy.

But there is a big problem. The mandate from the state to develop threat assessment teams is unfunded. The state provides no money to support the program.

For Arlington, a grant in 2018 got the program off the ground and provided the salaries for the MTAT members. However, the grant expires at the end of this year. APD will absorb the cost for their role and ��Vlog will take on the district’s related salary and expenses, but the funding for the MHMR representative will expire and she may be lost from the team.

“It’s going to hamper the team,” Stevens said. “This unfunded mandate really hampers what the state is wanting to accomplish. It’s a great idea, but by not having the money, you can’t build the teams you need.”

What the legislature can do

��Vlog’s legislative agenda offers three ways the legislature can help:

1) Work with school districts to create a platform that identifies students with mental health needs.

As all districts are now required to have threat assessment teams, a statewide platform with shared information would help districts better provide services to students in need and promote safety and security in all of our schools.

2) Provide appropriate ongoing funding for identification, services and supports for students with mental health needs.

Threat assessment teams are required by the state but are unfunded. Funding is needed for the MTAT to be fully staffed and operate effectively as intended.

Additional funding for social and emotional learning would be helpful as well. Many of ��Vlog’s SEL efforts, including the additional resources offered during COVID, like the counseling and resources hotlines, currently receive no state funding.

3) Allow school districts flexibility to determine how safety and mental health funds are spent in order to best meet local needs.

School districts are all different and have different needs. It is imperative that districts have the flexibility to develop and fund programs that work best for our area and our students.

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

Ryan Pierce — Thu, 20 May 2021 14:46:33 +0000

The article below is the third in a series designed to share and explain the district’s legislative priorities with our stakeholders. This story addresses Legislative Priority B. For more information on all the priorities and to read the entire legislative agenda, please visit aisd.net/district/legislative-agenda.

��Vlog Legislative Priority B

Identify state revenue sources to sustain the finance system authorized through HB 3 and to continue buying down school district M&O tax rates.

House Bill 3, approved and signed into law in 2019, overhauled school finance in Texas. While far from perfect, the legislation did improve the state’s school funding system. Designed to reduce property tax rates while increasing compensation for school district employees, the goals were good and necessary. However, achieving those goals will require additional funding from the state. The Texas legislature needs to identify revenue sources to sustain this new finance system instituted under HB 3.

School District Finance

To begin to understand HB 3, you need a basic understanding of school finance in Texas. School finance in Texas is complex. However, funding for school districts comes primarily from two sources: local property taxes and state aid.

PROPERTY TAXES

School property taxes in Texas consist of two separate tax rates: 1) Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and 2) Interest and Sinking (I&S).

The M&O rate provides funds for school district operations, including salaries, student programming, facility maintenance and more.

The I&S rate is used to pay off debt and cannot be used to subsidize maintenance and operations. This is the rate that applies to bonds and is used to pay them off.

STATE AID

The state supplements tax revenue with an allocation based on student attendance data and demographics. So, for each student who attends, the school district receives a “basic allotment.”

However, the amount of state aid varies according to the level of tax revenue. So, the more that property tax revenue goes up, the less money the state sends to the district. Even though property tax revenue may increase with new construction and rising property values, the school district’s overall revenue does not increase.

House Bill 3

House Bill 3 did a lot of things, but it kept the basic school finance model in place – that school district revenue comes from two sources, local tax revenue and state aid. Highlights of the bill included full-day pre-K for eligible four-year-olds, requirements to increase teacher compensation, and an increase to the “basic allotment.”

Most importantly for taxpayers, HB 3 reduced local school district tax rates and implemented a plan to continue reducing – or “compressing” – tax rates on an annual basis. For ��Vlog, HB 3 reduced the M&O tax rate the first year by $0.07 and could continue to compress it in future years.

That is a good thing, and ��Vlog supports the state reducing – or “buying down” – local school district property tax rates. However, when tax rates go down, that means school district revenue may go down as well. If the tax revenue goes down – and continues to go down each year – the state will need to make up the difference.

HB 3 made an attempt to make up the difference in the first year with a small increase in the basic allotment. But now, and in coming years, as tax rates continue to be compressed, inflation increases and school district employees need cost-of-living compensation increases, the state will need to increase its funding for school districts.

It is out of this reality that Priority B comes, that the state identifies revenue sources to sustain the finance system authorized through HB 3, including buying down school district M&O tax rates.

“How are they going to fund raising the basic allotment?” said Darla Moss, ��Vlog chief financial officer. “If they’re going to continue to buy down the M&O rate, then other sources of revenue should be identified.”

Not the fund balance

Those “other sources” should not be school districts’ fund balances. Some in the Texas legislature have suggested drawing from school districts’ fund balances as the way to generate the revenue the state needs to fund education.

That idea is based on the misnomer that school districts have fund balances just sitting somewhere unused and unneeded. That’s simply not the case. The amount of money that districts need in a fund balance varies based on the unique circumstances of each district. Here are just three of the reasons ��Vlog’s fund balance is vital to our financial health.

Like many other districts, ��Vlog’s fiscal year begins July 1. However, local property taxes don’t arrive until December. That means districts need five months of operating expenses on hand to cover costs from July through November.
COVID-19 is one of the most recent, tangible reasons why a strong fund balance is necessary. The pandemic introduced a host of unexpected costs that all districts paid to ensure uninterrupted services. While a pandemic is rare, emergencies and natural disasters are not. In the last year, ��Vlog has dealt with a tornado that touched down and the statewide winter storm that left 28 of our schools with significant damage. The fund balance ensures we can make immediate repairs in those situations and continue serving our students and community no matter what.
A strong fund balance grants a district a better credit rating. In ��Vlog, we leveraged our strong financial position and policies to gain low interest rates for our bond. In our most recent bond sale, we achieved interest rates significantly lower than projected, which will mean a cost savings of millions of dollars. When we have a strong financial foundation, we can pay down our debt quickly and achieve the best financial outcomes for our district.

Now what?

HB 3 is not without flaws. It attempts to create equity for districts across the state but fails to recognize that districts are not all the same.

“Every school district is different,” Moss said. “and those differences should be taken into consideration.”

Even still, HB 3 is a significant improvement and is particularly beneficial for our community in reducing school tax rates. The system needs to be sustained, which means the state has to provide more money for school districts.

To increase the allotment and ensure school districts are adequately funded while simultaneously reducing property taxes, the state needs to identify revenue sources – apart from using district fund balances – to sustain the finance system.

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

Ryan Pierce — Wed, 19 May 2021 16:59:34 +0000

COVID-19 has been expensive for school districts

��The article below is the second in a series designed to share and explain the district’s legislative priorities with our stakeholders. This story addresses Legislative Priority A. For more information on all the priorities and to read the entire legislative agenda, please visit aisd.net/district/legislative-affairs.

��Vlog Legislative Priority A

Allocate state funds to ensure that public education is not disrupted due to financial hardships created by the global health crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit everyone hard, including school districts. ��Vlog was and continues to be faced with many unexpected expenses in technology, food service, personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning supplies and much more. Most of these expenses were paid immediately with no guarantee of reimbursement. Plus, uncertainty surrounding the State of Texas’ tax revenue and budget, combined with an unforeseen reduction in enrollment in school districts across the state, fueled concern that districts might not receive the amount of state aid they had budgeted for.

��Vlog’s legislative priority A was written with these concerns in mind. It asks the State of Texas to hold school districts harmless, meaning that the state should fund school districts at the levels planned for before the pandemic.��

COVID is Expensive

COVID-19 has been expensive from the outset in March 2020. For fiscal year 2019-2020, COVID expenses for ��Vlog totaled more than $10.9 million. It then jumped to nearly $20 million at last count for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Many of the expenses were urgent and unexpected, and many were not in the budget. Immediately upon school closures in March 2020, ��Vlog started distributing meals to any child under 18 and quickly built a $6 million deficit in food and nutrition services. Technology costs soared as Chromebooks and iPads were distributed to every student who needed one, and the district provided hotspots for families without internet access. Additional cleaning supplies and PPE were also purchased and distributed or installed.

COVID interrupted everything, but ��Vlog made sure there was no interruption in feeding students and providing basic services.

“COVID caused needs that couldn’t wait,” said ��Vlog superintendent Dr. Marcelo Cavazos. “Even though we didn’t know if we would get reimbursed, we paid for these things right away because we’re committed to ensuring our students are fed and get the technology and services they need.”

Payroll has been expensive, too. That includes paying for a higher number of substitutes than usual when teachers and staff were ill or quarantined due to COVID. It also includes paying employee salaries even when some couldn’t work due to the COVID closures. The district decided to pay employees like bus drivers, custodians, secretaries and more who were sidelined while all campuses were shut down. It was not only the right thing to do for those employees and their families, it was also necessary for the district to retain them. The job market for those employees is competitive and the district couldn’t afford to lose them.

Enrollment challenge

COVID-19 has caused enrollment in ��Vlog and most districts across the nation to go down. In ��Vlog, the projected enrollment for 2020-2021 was 59,117, but the actual enrollment at the end of the first semester was 56,747. While that 4% drop is not as high as many Texas districts have faced, it is significant and held the potential to drive down state funding at a time when COVID was causing so many additional expenses.

This is because a large part of school district revenue comes from state aid. The amount of that state aid is tied directly to student attendance. For each student, a school district receives an allotment from the state.��

When school districts set their budgets, they can’t know what their enrollment will be, so they use projections of student enrollment to build the budget. In normal years, the projections are typically very accurate.��

When COVID hit and drove down enrollment, ��Vlog, joined by most districts in the state, faced a potential budget shortfall. If the state funded districts based on actual enrollment, instead of the projected enrollment ��Vlog had budgeted and already staffed for, the district would have to make large cuts and likely lay off teachers and staff.

Legislative Priority A addresses this concern by asking the state to sustain funding at pre-COVID levels and hold districts harmless for the unpredictable drop in enrollment.

State Revenue

Legislative Priority A also comes out of concern over the State of Texas’ own revenue shortfall during the pandemic. The state’s tax revenue took a double punch from COVID and a concurrent oil and gas crisis.

When coronavirus shut down many business, restaurants and tourism, state sales tax revenue plummeted. To make matters worse, the pandemic coincided with an oil dispute between Saudi Arabi and Russia that resulted in oversupply at the same time that COVID-19 was driving down demand. The shockwaves meant oil and gas prices went down, too, and left Texas oil and gas firms struggling, thousands of workers in the sector laid off, and the revenue the state makes off production and sales in steep decline.

The reduction in state revenue forced cuts throughout the state and led to concerns that the Texas Education Agency and Texas legislature might not fund education at the level it had committed to.

While state budget cuts were unquestionably required by the crises, ��Vlog believes education is not the place for it. Educating and providing for our students needs to be a top priority of the state, and full funding is critical.

Hold Harmless

So far, the State of Texas has held school districts harmless and provided the opportunity for full funding for last school year and much of this year.

TEA held school districts harmless, meaning they funded them at their projected enrollment, for the 2019-2020 school year without any stipulations.

That was the case again for the 2020-2021 school year during the first two six-week periods. After that, stipulations have been required. Starting with the third six-week period, districts had to offer in-person school to receive full funding. And for the final three six-week periods, districts must meet one of two requirements. They must have 80% of students attending school in-person during the last six-week period, or their in-person attendance must be higher than it was in the fall.

That means funding for ��Vlog for the final three six-week periods of this school year is still up in the air. The district does not have 80% of students attending school in-person, so we will need to have higher in-person attendance during this final six-week period than we had in the fall, which was 38.1%.

Still Uncertainty

We are grateful that TEA and the Texas legislature have made it possible for school districts to be “held harmless,” but there is still work to do. As the 2020-2021 school year wraps up in conjunction with the 87^th Texas legislative session, there is still uncertainty surrounding school district funding both for the end of this school year and next, so we continue to ask the state to ensure public education funding is not disrupted due to financial hardships created by COVID-19.

Learn more about ��Vlog's legislative agenda. Plus, read about why the district is involved in legislative affairs and check back tomorrow for an article on legislative priority B.

��Vlog proactive in legislative affairs

Ryan Pierce — Tue, 18 May 2021 15:38:58 +0000

The article below is the first in a series designed to share and explain the district’s legislative priorities with our stakeholders. This story explains the district’s interest and involvement in legislative affairs. For more information on all of the ��Vlog’s legislative priorities and to read the entire legislative agenda, please visit aisd.net/legislative-affairs.

��Vlog takes a proactive approach toward legislative affairs. Led by the Board of Trustees, the district not only pays attention to the legislation and policies coming out of Austin related to education, it also shares its opinion and perspective on many of them with local and state legislators.

Why is ��Vlog involved in legislative affairs?

Legislative affairs are extremely relevant for school districts as the legislature’s actions have a direct impact on our students, teachers and staff.

“What happens in Austin affects us in so many different ways,” said Justin Chapa, ��Vlog trustee and the chair of the board’s governance committee.

The Texas legislature establishes rules and policies that impact nearly every aspect of a school district, from school finance and district accountability ratings to student assessments like STAAR testing and even curriculum offerings. It decides when school districts can hold elections and what the language on a ballot must be. It even controls health insurance and retirement programs for school district employees, and on and on.

“We are advocates for our students and employees,” said ��Vlog Board of Trustees president Kecia Mays. “We want the best educational experience and opportunities for each of our students. To do that, we need Austin to establish policies and provide resources that are in the best interests of students and teachers. So, it makes sense for us to talk with our legislators about the important issues facing our district and let them know how they can help support us.”

What does ��Vlog do about legislative affairs?

It all starts with the Board of Trustees governance committee and senior administrators keeping track of legislative affairs and governmental issues. They do this with assistance from a legislative consultant based in Austin.

Trustees and senior administrators also make a point of meeting with our local legislative delegation. At least once a year, all the legislators who represent the ��Vlog area are invited for a discussion and update on the district. This past year the meeting was held via Zoom, but the previous year it was at the ��Vlog Dan Dipert Career and Technical Center. Trustees and senior administrators also meet with individual legislators from time to time to discuss our interests and priorities.

When it comes time for a legislative session in Austin, which happens every two years, ��Vlog develops and shares a legislative agenda and priorities for the session. This document is essentially a list of the topics important to ��Vlog and our position on them. The agenda is shared with our local legislative delegation and made available to everyone on the district website.

As the legislative session progresses, the district tracks proposed bills related to education. On bills of particular importance, the district will share our support or opposition to the bill through a card or letter delivered to our local legislative delegation.

At times, senior administrators will even travel to Austin to testify on a certain bill or topic. This session, for example, Dr. Kevin Barlow, ��Vlog’s assistant superintendent of research and accountability, gave testimony before the Senate Committee on Education. He spoke in support of Senate Bill 194 about including career and technical education in school accountability.

“Testifying in person in Austin gives us a great opportunity to reach legislators from across the state and make them aware of important issues facing public education,” Barlow said. “Most legislators are not educators, so they need to hear from district personnel to��understand how policies and legislation impact districts and students.”

In the 2019 legislative session, ��Vlog went a step further. The district crafted a bill, with support from our legislative consultant in Austin, regarding health insurance for school district employees. Texas school districts enrolled in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) Active Care health insurance program are restricted from offering alternative health care plans. The TRS Active Care plan premiums had become much too expensive for districts and their employees. The bill would have allowed ��Vlog to leave TRS Active��Care and start a pilot program to obtain more affordable health insurance options for our employees. Texas State Representative Matt Krause, one of our local legislators, sponsored the bill in the Texas House of Representatives.

Does it make an impact?

The district’s legislative efforts do make an impact.

Educating our local legislators about issues facing the district is a big piece of that. ��Vlog is able to explain to legislators how bills might affect school districts and identify potential unintended consequences. Sharing our support or opposition to a bill helps our legislators make an informed decision on how to vote.

Even when our legislators don’t vote our way and have different views than the district on certain issues, because of our relationship, they at least understand our perspective, and we know theirs. We still find common ground that the legislators are willing to help with.

This year, the impact of COVID-19 on ��Vlog has been one of the most important discussion points with legislators.

“This session we played a strong role in educating our legislative delegation about how important changes to virtual education going forward are going to be,” Chapa said. “Our delegation was probably more dialed in and engaged on that issue earlier on because we were able to educate them on how virtual education is playing out.”

The district’s health insurance bill in 2019 also made an impact. Although the bill failed to pass, the district’s initiative and leadership on this important issue set the foundation for important changes. TRS has actively partnered with school districts throughout the state and offered a number of Active Care plan improvements and cost efficiencies in this past year.

“Our partnership with TRS has been encouraging,” said Scott Kahl, ��Vlog��assistant��superintendent of��human��resources. “TRS has shown the initiative to listen to its key Active Care stakeholders and make plan modifications to address member needs.��We recognize there is more to do, and we are hopeful that our positive relationship with TRS will contribute to additional improvements and cost efficiencies for our employees.”

“Our legislative efforts are on behalf of our students, employees and community,” said ��Vlog superintendent Dr. Marcelo Cavazos. “That is the framework that guides our agenda and communication with legislators. We believe that by being proactive and engaged, we can help our leaders in Austin make decisions and policies that will benefit our students and teachers here in Arlington and throughout Texas.”

Learn more

��Vlog’s entire legislative agenda is available at aisd.net/legislative-agenda. Learn more each day this week as articles about four of our legislative priorities are posted here at aisd.net.

Legislative Agenda – ����Vlog

Texas recaptures millions in tax revenue from ����Vlog

State will recapture about $5 billion this year

How much does the state take?

����Vlog is a recapture district

What does it cost to educate a student?

Statewide funding per student

Texas in bottom 10 for school funding

Why do school districts need bonds?

Bonds fund capital needs

But what is a school bond?

Why do school districts need bonds?

What can bond funds be used for?

How do school districts pay back bonds?

Defeasance

Public school funding in Texas is based on attendance

Funding is based on attendance, not enrollment

What is wrong with this model?

School funding starts with the basic allotment

Current Basic Allotment set in 2019��

Other Allotments

Add it all up

Learn about school property taxes in ����Vlog

Property Taxes

Maintenance and Operations tax rate (M&O)

Interest and Sinking tax rate (I&S)

Total tax rate

Call to Action: School funding

Where do school districts get their money?

Two sources: Property taxes and state aid

School finance in Texas is complicated

Texas School Finance 101

Read ����Vlog’s legislative priority on academic growth

Read ����Vlog’s legislative priority on safety

Read ����Vlog’s legislative priority on school funding

89th Texas Legislative Session opened last month

The Texas 89th legislative session opened today, Jan. 14, 2025

Texas 89th legislative session opened today

Who are my legislators?

����Vlog Board adopts legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

����Vlog's legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

����Vlog issues legislative agenda

Read summary of district's legislative agenda

Learn about ����Vlog’s legislative priorities

����Vlog Legislative Priority A

����Vlog Legislative Priority B

����Vlog Legislative Priority F

����Vlog Legislative Priority G

LEARN ABOUT ARLINGTON ISD’S LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

����Vlog Legislative Priority G

State and district roles

Districts are all different

Local authority under attack

Local authority in ����Vlog’s legislative agenda

Learn about ����Vlog’s legislative priorities

����Vlog Legislative Priority F

What ����Vlog does for student mental health

What the legislature can do

Learn about ����Vlog’s legislative priorities

����Vlog Legislative Priority B

School District Finance

House Bill 3

Not the fund balance

Now what?

Learn about ����Vlog’s legislative priorities

COVID-19 has been expensive for school districts

����Vlog Legislative Priority A

COVID is Expensive

Enrollment challenge

State Revenue

Hold Harmless

Still Uncertainty

����Vlog proactive in legislative affairs

Why is ����Vlog involved in legislative affairs?

What does ����Vlog do about legislative affairs?

Does it make an impact?

Learn more

Legislative Agenda – ��Vlog

Texas recaptures millions in tax revenue from ��Vlog

��Vlog is a recapture district

Learn about school property taxes in ��Vlog

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on academic growth

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on safety

Read ��Vlog’s legislative priority on school funding

��Vlog Board adopts legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

��Vlog's legislative agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session

��Vlog issues legislative agenda

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

��Vlog Legislative Priority A

��Vlog Legislative Priority B

��Vlog Legislative Priority F

��Vlog Legislative Priority G

��Vlog Legislative Priority G

Local authority in ��Vlog’s legislative agenda

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

��Vlog Legislative Priority F

What ��Vlog does for student mental health

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

��Vlog Legislative Priority B

Learn about ��Vlog’s legislative priorities

��Vlog Legislative Priority A

��Vlog proactive in legislative affairs

Why is ��Vlog involved in legislative affairs?

What does ��Vlog do about legislative affairs?