The Baytown Sun reports today that the Texas Education Agency has notified Houston area Goose Creek ISD that it gets to join the Robin Hood party. Goose Creek is defined as "rich" with 58.8% of its students defined as economically disadvantaged.
How's it feel to be "rich"?
The Baytown Sun
TEA notifies district of Chapter 41 status
By Ken Fountain
Baytown Sun
Published May 3, 2006
The Goose Creek school district has received a letter from the Texas Education Agency indicating that the district will be a Chapter 41 school next year.
Under the state’s current “Robin Hood” school finance plan, a Chapter 41 district is one that is considered “property rich,” and must send some of the taxes generated by its property taxes with the state or share them with a “property poor” district.
The designations are based on a calculation involving the property valuations certified each year by the Texas Comptroller’s Office and the district’s weighted daily average attendance, or WADA, which gives different “weights” to different students based on such factors as special education, bilingual education and eligibility for reduced-price lunches.
The district’s “Robin Hood” status might be affected by whatever property tax reform measures are passed during the ongoing special session of the Texas Legislature, District Financial Officer Katie Bowman said.
Gov. Rick Perry called the session to address a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court finding the school finance system unconstitutional because it amounts to a de facto statewide property tax. The court gave legislators a June 1 deadline to devise a plan that passes constitutional measure; otherwise, the state’s schools might shut down.
The Goose Creek district had been designated a Chapter 41 district three years ago, but lost that status a year later.
Bowman told trustees that, depending on whatever legislation passes, the district could expect to have between $4 million and $5 million that it would be liable for under the Robin Hood plan.
She said that, instead of paying a payment to the TEA, the district might have that much reduced in its funding from the state.
Bowman said that based on enrollment growth predicted by the district’s demographer, Goose Creek might lose its Chapter 41 status in a few years.
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