Lake Travis View (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 1988 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4 • Lake Travis View • Thursday, December 29, 1988
OPINIONS
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MEMBER
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Unlike the state government, which taxes almost
anything, the sch<x»l district must rely entirely on the
property tax Most of us, if the polls are correct,
regard the property tax as unfair We d think it even
more unfair if it were doubled or tripled, to replace
existing state aid
That’s why, over the last two decades, the state has
assumed a larger share of the foundation school pro-
Capitol Notebook
By SAM KINCH JR.
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Speaker Gib Lewis, the main legislative leaders, vow
a continued effort to improve both the fairness of the
school finance sy stem and the quality of the state edu
cational program. (Even Gov. Bill Clements, whose
enthusiasm for reform has been minimal, says we’ll
keep working on the problem I
But the Legislative Budget Board began making
clear what the other side of the problem looks like
In cutting projected spending increases, the l.BB took
$434 million from the education budget — most in
higher education, but $128 million from state aid to
local districts based on estimates of schixil attendance.
That doesn't mean cuts from current levels of spend
mg. to be sure, but rather reductions from proposed
spending numbers previously suggested when the out
look for state revenues was better.
What the school-finance figures also suggest is that,
as with other parts of the budget, there won't be any
substantial improvement in any area of state govern
ment without more revenues
A sidelight The l.BB also sliced $385 million from
the proposed corrections budget, most of which
would have been used to build new prison beds Re-
member. Texas is under a federal court order to re-
lieve prison overcrowding But the walls are so
lammed already that convicted felons are backed up
in county jails because there's no room for them in
Huntsville.
But there's a critical difference here. We can is-
sue bonds to pay for prison construction. But you
can't do that with money for public schools — just
as you can t issue bonds to run state colleges or op
erate mental health facilities or provide health ser
vices for the p<x>r
And this is just part of the dilemma lacing the Leg
islalure It'll be a long spring before a hot summer
Bringing in water
It may be an ambitious undertaking, and it may not even
work, but you can’t help but admire Bee Cave officials for
the actions they’ve taken to try to help those residents within
the village’s boundaries and nearby who are without water
or whose water supply is dwindling. Village commissioners
first opened up a community fire hydrant and agreed to pay
the water bill so that area residents could have whatever water
they could carry away. That seemed to be about all the small
village could do.
But now village officials have gone out and gotten a $20,000
study grant from the state to see which of several options
would be the best to bring a permanent water supply to the
area. What’s more, the community has offered to be the
catalyst for a project in which Bee Cave would be the hub
of a regional water system and serve as a retail water retailer.
If all goes well, the village might even pay for its share of
the project with the water it sells.
For the plan to succeed, it’s going to take a lot of work,
a lot of money, and a lot of give and take. But at least village
officials are trying. Water truly is the key to the blossoming
of the area, and maybe Bee Cave will be the master of its
own destiny and that of its neighbors. More power — and
water — to them.
The LAKE TRAVIS VIEW is published weekly for $15 <K>pcr year in I rav
tx County and $25 outside the county by Srndcro Publixhing I akeway ln> l2<Ml
l^keway Dr Suite 12 Austin, Tex 717.M Out of state subscriptions are taw
exempt The newspaper n published $2 week* annually Second dass postage
paid at Austin Texas under L' S Postal Service second class publication number
(JOO 504
POSTMASTER Send address changes to the lake Travis View 107 HR 620
S . Box 5 F Austin. TX 71734
The lake Travis View serve* the communities on the south side • I ake Iravis
The Publisher shall not he liable for failure to publish or distribute all of any
part of any issue because of labor disputes, acc idem*, fires, acts of (rod or any
other circumstance* beyond the reasonable control of the Publisher f urther the
Publisher shall not be liable for damage* if for any reason he fails Io publish any
advertisement
Reform needed
School financing: Constitutional, but is it fair?
— 1 aw well
as reporters have difficulty explain-
ing the meshing of school-finance
and over-all state budget issues.
That task is no less easy in the cur-
rent context of a $1 billion revenue
shortfall) and an appeals court rul-
ing that the Texas school-finance
system may be unfair but not unconstitutional
First, the Austin-based court of appeals removes
the immediate threat of having to write a new scheme
of school state aid to local districts, but it leaves an
implied moral obligation to provide more state money
to. at least, the poorest of the poor districts That will
cost more money.
Second, while the school-finance decision still is
on appeal, it relieves a measure of here-and-now
financial pressure from the Legislature. But it cer-
tainly doesn’t cure any other problem because, if any-
thing. the spending pressure is greater than many had
anticipated as short a time as a month ago.
School finance is an intellectual exercise engaged
in only by masochists. Texans like to say they believe
in local control of public schools, for example But
only a few of the more than 1,000 "independent”
school districts could survive, independently, an ab
rupt end to state aid
fr, vi
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gram costs. That is. local districts are required to raise
relatively less of the expense of basic elementary and
secondary school programs. Local school officials,
therefore, are free to raise additional property tax
funds to pay for “enrichment" options that add to
the basic state-mandated offering
But the state s coffers have been strained in the last
tew years, as the Texas economy went into a free
fall because of declining oil and gas values — w hich
fuel not only state taxes but also local school districts
where oil and gas are located, where refineries are
located, etc. As a result, since the last major school-
finance bill in 1984, the state hasn’t dramtically in-
creased its commitment to education
That is the source of the so-called Edgewixxl vs.
Kirby lawsuit: The plaintiffs, mainly low-property-
wealth schools, essentially assert that the current
schixil finance does not assure students in all districts
equal access to the money required to pay for basic,
quality educational opportunities. That is, a poor
district has to levy a disproportionately high proper
ty tax for basic programs, while a wealthy district
can get by with a low tax for the basic programs and
then, with just a bit more tax effort, provide the "ex-
tras" desired by local voters
The appeals court rejected that argument, con
eluding that while the current school-finance system
"does not provide an ideal education for all students
nor a completely fair distribution of tax benefits and
burdens among all schixtl patrons," it isn't uncon
stitutional Still, both Lt Gov Bill Hobby and House
(ieorge Phenix
John koloen
Diane lee
IhKtH- 1 al erncy
Sandra Bybee
Stuart Htmmelvtein
Suilr 12 (mailing address 10? Ranch Road
AuMin 1\ ?H7U iei,ph,w jf,| 49-1
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Lake Travis Water Level
lh« IV... 66X19
Dec. M. 66X27
Dec. 21.. 668.24
Dec. 22 66X1X
Dec. 23.. 668 18
Dec. 24.. 668.20
Dec. IS.. 668.12
Reading- ar« taken at * j iii daih at
Mansheld Dam by the I < R A Con
servahon pool level I* 641 I ft ahovr
mean *ea level
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Publisher
General Manager
Managing I dilor
Advertising Director
Reporter
Advertising Representative
<»0kc I21III akewav Ih
620 So A Fi
Deadline*
Airw* noon I rrdav pnor to puhikalHWi
Advertising noon Monday prior to publication
< onirihulms Ron H.rk John ( nlhy Brenda ( urran Judv Eiger
*** Hardy Scott Jatkvon Sam Kincb Willy Maar lev eld John
M* Ashan Jack McTlatan Tert Me I rm Kim Walker
»
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Lee, Diane. Lake Travis View (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 1988, newspaper, December 29, 1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1267851/m1/4/: accessed July 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting City of Lakeway.