State of Public Education in Texas
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The State of Texas is 41st in the Nation in the amount of dollars it funds education.
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The State of Texas provides $ 4000 / student less than the national average.
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The State of Texas funding is in the bottom 10 states in the Union.
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The State of Texas educates more than 10% of the United States students.
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92% of Texas students go to public schools.
We can do better & we need your help
We need to help change the legislator's opinion about public education
Representation for 78739 (Nan Clayton Elementary zip code)
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Recapture is meant to equalize wealth levels among districts.
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Chapter 49 of the State Education Code, a district that brings in more local revenue than it is entitled to is considered property-wealthy and must pay its excess local revenue to the state to distribute to property-poor districts.
- Basic Allotment per student ($6,215) X Avg Daily attendance = Entitlement (how much the district can keep). The rate is adjusted based on factors such as school size and number or low income campuses.
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Austin ISD is expecting to pay a record amount - almost $840 million in local property tax revenue to the state through recapture in 2025-2026. this is a 400% increase in recapture payments since 2015.
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Over half of Austin ISD budget of 1.68 Billion is projected to be paid out to the state in recapture.
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In FY 2022-23, Austin ISD paid $323.2 million more in recapture than the top 10 recapture paying Region 13 Districts combined.
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Property values are increasing in Travis County, and at the same time the district's enrollment in decreasing (enrollment has dropped by 17% since 2015. So the gains are going to the state.
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Austin ISD is projected to pay over $840 million in recapture in the 2025 / 26 school year.
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In 1993, the Texas Legislature implemented recapture following a series of court rulings addressing inequalities in school funding. The state determines a district's entitlement- how much it should cost to educate a student - through a complex set of formulas
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The revenue a district is entitled to is determined by the number of students enrolled and daily attendance.
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Any revenue over the district's entitlement is sent to the state to be redistributed to poor districts
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in 2019, the Legislature passed House Bill 3 (HB 3), which reduced recapture rate a degree, but this was offset by inflation and Austin cost of living.
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in 2025 The passing of House Bill 2 (HB 2) introduced an $8.5 billion school funding plan intended to aid Texas public schools. This raised the 2019 target of $6,160 per student to the current $6.215 ($55 per student statewide). However, these changes have not solved AISD's budget problems, and the district still faces a $181 million deficit.
- WADA: (Weighted Average Daily Attendance) The Student Multiplier. Adjusts our funding based on our student's learning needs, not just a head count.
- Golden Pennies: Tax dollars that stay 100% local. The state cannot touch them. Austin has 8 goldens pennies, (8 cents for every $100 of property value collected) and we are unfortunately holding the maximum.
- Copper Pennies: (9 cents for ever $100 of property value collected) Tax dollars that are subject to partial state recapture
- Basic Allotment: Baseline. The flat dollar amount ($6,215) the state says is enough to educate a standard student. It has not been adjusted for inflation since 2019, which artificially locks our district’s allowed state funding low. (at the very least it should be +$1000 adjusted for inflation since 2019
- M&O Tax Rate (Maintenance & Operations): The Classroom Budget. The portion of the tax bill that pays for day-to-day school running costs, salaries and AC bills. This is the exact bucket of money that contains the Golden and Copper Pennies.
- I&S Tax Rate (Interest & Sinking): The Capital / Bond Budget. The separate portion of the tax bill that can only pay for voter-approved school buildings and technology. Unlike M&O money, I&S money is 100% exempt from state recapture. Every I&S penny stays in Austin.
Resources
Thank so much to all our great sources of information:
https://www.austinisd.org/budget/recapture
https://www.austinisd.org/budget
NOTE this page is continually under construction. We are aiming for facts and not opinions. Please contact the PTA if you see something incorrect or you have an idea to add.
