R.Semaan and R.Kai - Lanier M.S.

Student Townhall Meeting 1

Ritsuki Kai and Roy Semaan

Lanier M.S. Student Townhall

February 21, 2018

Fulfill Your Constitutional Duty:

Why the State Needs to be Held Accountable for HISD’s Budget Crisis

In a perfect world, the lack of money in schools would be the least of our problems.

Although as of next year, HISD is faced with a $200 million dollar budget cut, putting our

facility maintenance, staff salary, central operations, and other costs in jeopardy. As students, we

can definitely tell you this, the school system will change dramatically when these budget cuts

are implemented. We stand here today to ask the state board of education to take accountability

for these drastic deductions. Many people don’t realize how much the school environment can

affect a student’s growth. By making these changes, it will only make the learning setting and

attitude worse.

(a) ​The American educational system is diverse and complex. Constitutionally, it is the

state government’s job to fund and regulate the school budget. The state board of education holds

the accountability and the most supervision for government-run schools.

(b) ​But the amount of state share in Texas education spending has greatly declined over

the years. Scott Milder,​ ​a former Rockwall City Council Member was posed the question of,

“Does Texas spend enough on its education?” To respond, he said, “Local homeowners pay too

much. The state does not pay enough.” He continues by saying, “Texas has the ability to

adequately fund education without a tax increase but improper spending priorities at the state
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level have resulted in a system that places a disproportionate share of the burden on local

taxpayers through property taxes." The support of education from the state government has

dropped 30% in the last 40 years, while the local government’s burden of funding public schools

has increased by

(c) ​TX is one of the few states to have a recapture system for funding public schools, but

it creates more inequality than it does help it. Only Texas and Vermont use the recapture tax to

fund its schools, why don’t the other 48 use it? The answer is because this is an old and faulty

system. The last time Texas updated its school funding system was when Ronald Reagan was

president. Because of this system, 10 HISD schools may close to this budget shortage. These

schools are mainly comprised of African American and Latino students. The state ​must

understand that they are denying these students the education they deserve and the education that

develops our future leaders.

(d) ​The recapture issue was brought up to a vote last March after voters rejected it. After

they rejected it, our school district was left with a lose-lose situation because the state threatened

the city that we either pay or have the most valuable commercial properties detached from the

school district. HISD decided to pay the recapture payments but the district could possibly lose

out on about 15 percent of its budget. ​State officials have told Houston ISD that it has to pay

$260 million in recapture payments and this amount could inflate to up to more than $300

million.

(e) ​To make matters worse, Texas has the resources to pull HISD out of this mess but

refuses to do so. The state has a rainy day fund put in place but still hasn’t used it. It has even

come to the point where we are having to cut teachers. So we ask you this, what better time than
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now will it be used for? Houston was just hit with a unprecedented natural disaster, and HISD

has to dig deep in its funds to repair schools. With 1 out of 11 kids calling Texas home, our state

and our district plays a large role in the future of our nation. To ensure that those kids can

develop and grow, we must ​invest ​in education.

(f) ​When we address this problem, we can look to our district superintendent Richard

Carranza. He delivered a message to more than 1500 people about some of the major problems

regarding HISD which included the financial conflicts. Carranza himself even pointed out the

outdated recapture system. He stated, “​We need a school finance system that will reflect the

needs of today’s students and does not so heavily rely on local property taxes to fund schools.

We continue to do more with less because the state does not give school districts their fair share

for public education. We have lawmakers in the room right now, and we urge them to support a

system that provides a better education for our children in the 21st century.”

If there’s anything to spend money on, it is on our public education systems. The 13 and

14 year olds among us in the present are tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers, policy makers, and

military men and women. To HISD and the state school board of education do not forsake us.