The Texas Legislature needs to go back to the Capitol and find a new source of revenue for funding public school education, which includes property-tax relief, state Rep. Todd Baxter, R-Austin, said to a group of realtors Wednesday at the Real Estate Council of Austin's monthly luncheon. Baxter said a second special session addressing public school finance would be necessary for state lawmakers to resolve the revenue issue.
"In a 30-day session, it's very hard to get through both the House and the Senate," said Baxter.
During the April-May special session, called by Gov. Rick Perry to specifically address public school finance, the House passed a version of Perry's revenue plan that included property-tax relief. However, due to a lack of consensus in the Senate, the 78th Legislature adjourned two days early with no resolution to the issue.
In April, Perry asked the Legislature to devise a new method of collecting revenue for the public school system and change the current "Robin Hood" method, which takes money from property-rich districts and gives money to property-poor districts.
Baxter stressed the importance of coupling a solution with a "lasting, binding property-tax relief."
The Texas Constitution requires that any solution can only be achieved by a constitutional amendment approved by a two-thirds majority vote, he said.
"One solution is to take a percentage of the state's surplus and direct it to public education," Baxter said.
Gov. Rick Perry has yet to call the much-anticipated special session that will again address the issue. With no clear resolution in view, other candidates running against incumbents in the upcoming elections are vocalizing their concerns about the issue.
"School finance reform was clearly one of the most critical issues facing our Legislature this past spring, yet our state leadership called three special sessions and wasted millions of tax dollars on partisan politics,"said Kelly White, the Democratic candidate running against Baxter. "It would have been nice if they had spent as much time on school finance as they did on serving their leadership instead of their voters."
Mark Strama, a Democrat who will run against incumbent Rep. Jack Stick, R-Austin, said the corporate franchise tax, which currently only taxes one out of six businesses, should be expanded to service centers. Stick was not available for comment.
Although there is a disagreement between parties about the source of the revenue, Strama and Baxter both said the state needs to take more responsibility in funding the public school system.
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