Let’s face it, HISD’s Prop. 1 is a bad deal

Anyone who cares about public education should vote against HISD Proposition 1. Here’s why:

Our votes deserve respect. Last November, HISD voters were smart enough to vote against the recapture proposition, which applies to school districts that experience rapid growth in property value. At a certain point, according to state school funding formulas, these districts face unsavory choices, including sending some of their property tax revenue to the state or having some of their property tax base detached. Either scenario then funnels that local tax money to property-poor districts. HISD voters in November said no. Now, state bureaucrats have dressed up the same proposition and are selling it to the district, and thus, to voters, as a new, improved deal. It’s not.

The new deal is worse than the first. Yes, the new deal reduces the recapture payments for the first year; but it tacks them back onto future years. And HISD — like the victim of an unscrupulous payday loan company — ends up paying more, not less.

Lawmakers are still hiding behind the same trick question. The politicians who wrote the ballot language knew from the start that recapture was a bad deal. That’s why they say it’s about “attendance credits.” But it’s not. It’s about shutting down public schools.

They’re still taking our local tax money — and lots of it. Recapture will take more than $1 billion out of our local, public schools in the next four years and send it to state bureaucrats in Austin to spend essentially however they want. Sure, the recapture funds go to property-poor districts, but the trick is this: The state then turns around and send those districts less money from the general revenue fund so it can fund other public needs.

Recapture hurts our neediest students. Under recapture, HISD will be forced to eliminate or make severe cuts to early childhood education centers, mental health resources, mentoring and tutoring programs, truancy and dropout prevention programs, and college counseling programs.

Recapture is a fatally flawed system to begin with. Often referred to as “Robin Hood,” it was supposed to take funds from wealthy districts and redistribute it to poorer districts. But not this time. HISD has a student poverty rate of 76 percent. Proposition 1 will deprive these students of resources critical to health and learning that keep them in school, off the streets and on track to graduate.

State bureaucrats are addicted to the money, now more than ever. Recapture was passed by the Texas legislature in 1993 under threat of a court order. It was considered a temporary fix until comprehensive reform could be worked out. But that hasn’t happened. The recent budget proposed by the state senate actually cuts general fund expenditures for public education as revenues from recapture continue to rise.

Proposition 1 hurts more than our students; it hurts all of us. If Proposition 1 passes, the closure of schools and rapid decline of our local education system will also decimate neighborhoods, hurt our economy and make Houston unattractive to businesses and people looking to relocate here.

Here’s the bottom line: Once again, the Legislature has forced HISD voters to make a terrible choice. Either way is bad for public school kids in Houston. But voting for HISD Proposition 1 means total capitulation to the unfair recapture system — forever. It’s tantamount to giving up on public education in Houston.

I attended a legislative hearing last year where officials from school district after school district testified about how much they regret the decisions of their voters to vote for recapture measures. They wished they could still continue the fight against the system that is destroying their schools. But they can’t, because their voters gave in. And once you’re in, you’re in for good.

Voting against HISD Proposition 1 at least keeps HISD in the fight. It gives us leverage to fight in court and to fight in the Legislature. It puts teeth in our insistence that our legislators do their jobs.

Our kids deserve better than what state bureaucrats are foisting upon them. On May 6, vote against HISD Proposition 1. Let’s stay in the fight.

Jones represents District IV on the Houston Independent School District board of trustees.