PERRY CEREMONIOUSLY SIGNS TAX RELIEF BILL AT TISD
By: BETTY WATERS, Staff Writer
05/31/2006

Flanked by lawmakers, Gov. Rick Perry ceremoniously signed copies of a school finance reform bill in Tyler, Plano and Houston on Wednesday that will provide tax relief to homeowners, raises and incentives for teachers, more equity in school funding and funds for college readiness and dropout prevention programs.

After the governor's entourage walked into Tyler Independent School District's administrative building, Perry said House Bill 1 is the most significant piece of legislation passed in the last generation and provides steps to improve opportunities for the next generation. It rewards teachers and delivers the largest property tax cut in Texas history, Perry said.

Passage of the bill would not have been possible without leadership of Florence Shapiro in the Senate and Rob Eissler in the House, Perry said. Not only did they secure enough votes to pass the bill, they did it with an overwhelming majority of 167 aye votes and only eight votes against the legislation, Perry said.

The legislation will save homeowners and businesses $15.7 billion over the next three years in property taxes, lower school tax rates by 33 percent and make the dream of home ownership a reality for many people, Perry said.
Another reform provided by HB 1 is a reduction in the amount of increase in tax rates by school boards, Perry said. Although boards can currently increase tax rates up to 6 cents every year without a vote by the public, the new legislation limits hikes in school taxes to a one-time 4-cent increase, Perry said.

If districts need more funds, boards will have to ask taxpayers' permission at the ballot box, Perry said, calling the requirement the ultimate of local control.
Also, the reform bill provides "the most significant protection against (property) appraisal increases in the history of the state," Perry said. "That means from now on when property values go up, the biggest winner will be the homeowner of that home and not just the entity that taxes it," Perry said.

In addition, Perry said, the bill provides $1.8 billion in additional funding for college readiness programs and a dropout prevention program, tougher math and science requirements for students, a teacher mentoring incentive and a $2,000 a year teacher pay raise.
The bill creates the largest merit pay program in America by allotting $360 million to reward the best teachers with bonuses of up to $10,000, Perry said, to recognize and reward extra effort by teachers.

HB 1 further provides for the state to pick up a greater share of the cost of education and makes funding between districts more equitable than ever before in Texas history, Perry said.

By 2008, Perry said, school districts will keep nearly $1 billion in local property taxes that would have been shipped out to other parts of the state under the old "Robin Hood" system. New financial accountability measures will insure that taxpayers have detailed information about how school dollars are spent and enable comparisons of budgets of different school districts, Perry said.

The bill sets aside about $1 billion over three years to reform high schools, reduce the dropout rate and prepare more students for college. It requires four years of math and science by high school students.

It will increase the state's share of public school funding to 50 percent, reversing a trend of lesser state funding. State funding was expected to drop to 34 percent in fiscal 2007 without passage of HB 1.

Perry called the legislature's special session dealing with school finance "a tremendous success" because of a historic property tax cut, implementation of business tax reforms supported by chambers of commerce in major cities and teacher raises. The bill lowered the overall tax burden by $7 billion, he said.

Ms. Shapiro, recalling she represented Tyler until redistricting, said Sens. Kevin Eltife and Todd Staples worked with her from beginning to end of the special legislative session. Many members of the legislature put forth tremendous effort, but the difference in getting the legislation passed was the governor's leadership, Ms. Shapiro said. "He knew where he wanted to go, he knew how to get there and he gave us the tools to work with," she said.

The beneficiaries are teachers, taxpayers and school children, Ms. Shapiro said.

Eissler, who co-authored the bill with Ms. Shapiro, said the bill was a great project concluded in 30 days with the state "supreme court breathing down our necks" - a reference to a deadline the high court gave the state to come up with a new public school funding plan.
Staples said, "I feel a little bit like Thomas Edison did after all those attempts to successfully invent the light bulb. After years of working in the trenches, we finally got the job done right, providing historic tax relief, making a tremendous investment in public education that will insure that every child in Texas has access to a quality education, regardless of what their zip code happens to be. We avoided a constitutional crisis and set this state on a course and pathway to prosperity."

Tyler ISD board President Andy Bergfeld said, "We are relieved." Superintendent Dr. David Simmons, saying the district was honored to have been chosen as a site for the bill signing, called HB 1 "one of the most sweeping education reform bills in modern history."
He added, "School reform of this type took bipartisan effort and I think Gov. Perry exhibited tremendous leadership by creating a strong bipartisan committee chaired by one of his previous political opponents, John Sharp."

Tyler ISD Trustee Orenthia Mason said, "It is a pay increase for teachers and a decrease in our property taxes, and I think it's a great start." She added, "We have to look at some plan that is going to help to alleviate the discrepancies and the gaps we see in the achievement levels of students."

Staff Writer Anthony Williams contributed to this report.
©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2006