HISD updates voters on recapture referendum
Support urged for paying state after amount reduced
It felt like déjà vu to many of the 150 people who packed into Tinsley Elementary School’s auditorium Wednesday evening.
Facing another controversial Houston ISD school finance referendum, speakers debated two unfavorable options, both of which will cost the school district millions of dollars.
Wednesday’s forum served as the latest update in a school finance saga that has pitted Houston ISD against the state after 62 percent of local residents voted in November against paying the state millions in so-called recapture fees.
Board President Wanda Adams, who hosted the town hall, thanked those present for voting against recapture in November. But she asked them to vote in favor of writing a recapture check. “Because of your no vote, you actually won. We were the first district ever to tell the state no, the first to say we will not write a check until you fund public education,” Adams said.
The Houston ISD Board of Education voted in February to hold a second referendum on the issue May 6 after the state lessened the amount HISD would pay in recapture fee and threatened to “detach” commercial properties.
Glenn Reed, general manager of HISD’s Budgeting and Financial Planning, said this referendum is different than the one that appeared in on the November ballot.
“This is not a vote on recapture; it’s a vote on how you want us to pay it,” Reed said.
The recapture elections stemmed from anger over the state’s complicated school finance system, which sees property rich school districts pay the state millions each year to buoy school districts in more rural or property-poor areas through a process called recapture.
The TEA originally told the district it must pay $162 million in recapture, but lessened that amount to $77.5 million after it agreed to take 50 percent of the money HISD loses to a generous homestead exemption off of the district’s recapture bill.
If the district does not pay recapture willingly, the TEA said it will detach $7.7 billion worth of commercial properties and give their taxes to property poor districts, including Aldine ISD locally. At a school board workshop earlier this month, district officials said losing those commercial properties could cost the district $98.4 million in revenue in the next fiscal year.
The new referendum will read: “Authorizing the board of trustees of Houston Independent School District to purchase attendance credits from the state with local tax revenues.” A vote “for” purchasing attendance credits would mean the district would willingly pay the state’s recapture fee. A vote “against” would mean the state would detach some local commercial property.