By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com
Cleburne ISD appears to be one step closer to sending bus transportation to the Hood County gated community of Pecan Plantation to transport Cleburne ISD-resident students to Cleburne schools.
“If there’s even one student there who wants to come to Cleburne schools, we’ll send a bus,” Cleburne Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard said Monday.
He would prefer that not be the case.
“Sending buses there is not a good solution,” Beard said. “Hopefully, Granbury ISD will step up with a solution so those kids can continue to go to Granbury schools.”
The solution would be for Granbury ISD to waive tuition costs for those out-of-district students in Pecan Plantation.
Cleburne ISD has footed the tuition for those students in the past, writing checks for an average of $139,000 per year, so it didn’t have to send a bus to bring them to Cleburne.
That was a cost-effective solution for Cleburne ISD when school districts were allowed to keep all their local tax revenue.
That changed with House Bill 1 in 2007-08.
Under the current funding formula, the more local revenue a district has, the less aid they’re allowed from the state.
Cleburne ISD receives an estimated $280,000 in property taxes from its residents in Pecan Plantation. That lessens Cleburne’s state aid by $280,000.
Cleburne school trustees voted recently to end the tuition payments.
Granbury ISD issued a press release last week opining that Cleburne ISD was $280,000 richer after Pecan Plantation property tax revenue was counted.
“While Granbury ISD has received those [tuition] payments as well as additional state funding,” said Granbury ISD Superintendent Ron Mayfield, “revenue from property taxes totaling approximately $280,000 has remained with Cleburne ISD.”
Not so, according to Cleburne ISD chief financial officer David Johnson.
“We get the tax revenue, but we don’t keep it,” he said. “Funding is no longer driven by the tax base. It’s driven by WADA.” WADA is the abbreviation for weighted daily average attendance.
“I think Granbury believes we get that [tax revenue] above and beyond what we get for attendance,” Beard said. “That’s not the case. If our tax base goes up, that much state aid is taken away. The primary way we can get a large [financial] increase is student attendance.
“Before House Bill 1, we did benefit from those property taxes. Originally, when the deal with Granbury was done, it was a good deal for everybody. It’s not now. We’re sending Granbury money, and nothing is coming our way. We’re paying Granbury tuition for those kids, and Granbury is also getting the money from the state.
“We’re not fighting with Granbury. There’s nothing to fight about. It just doesn’t make sense for us to send them tuition money when they already get the ADA.”
In a statement to Texas Education Agency representing Cleburne’s side of the issue, Johnson wrote, “The driving force behind the current state funding formula as per HB1 is attendance of students, known in the state funding realm as WADA or weighted average daily attendance. The change that HB1 instituted [as compared to the prior formula funding method of school revenue calculations] is known as the hold harmless method of funding, which ensures that a school receives a fixed amount per student so that schools don’t realize a shortfall in revenue as compared to the prior year. This revenue is comprised of state funding and local taxes — if you receive more in local taxes in a given year, the state will proportionately reduce its funding in that same year, all of which is based on the WADA that a school realizes over the course of the year.
“In the Pecan Plantation group that attends Granbury ISD but resides in the Cleburne ISD, Granbury ISD reports the attendance for those kids. Under the hold harmless method of state funding, Granbury ISD will realize 100 percent of their target revenue for these kids. Granbury ISD does not receive any state funding, due to its chapter 41 status; however, as a result of reporting the additional WADA, they send back less to the state [$5,825 WADA for the children attending Granbury ISD].
“Cleburne ISD does receive tax dollars for the property located in the Pecan Plantation area; however, the method of calculating state revenue is not based on property tax revenue but attendance. The result is that the tax dollars that come from property located in the Pecan Plantation subdivision result in the state reducing its funding to Cleburne ISD proportionately, leaving no economic benefit to Cleburne ISD. If the property in question were in the Granbury ISD, Granbury ISD would still receive the same amount of funding for maintenance and operations they currently are receiving.
“Since Cleburne ISD does not report any attendance for the children that reside in Pecan Plantation, Cleburne ISD receives no economic benefit from those property taxes that fund maintenance and operations, other than a small portion for the enrichment tax [.04 per $100 value]. This lack of economic benefit is the direct result of HB1, which ties all funding to student attendance.”
Al McKenzie of TEA’s fiscal analysis and forecasting office agreed with Cleburne’s stance in an e-mail to Johnson.
“The school finance system post HB1 is based on WADA,” he wrote. “Cleburne’s ‘greater of number’ of $5,224 gets multiplied by your WADA of 8,001 to give the revenue target of $41,798,806. If you had 100 more WADA the revenue target would be $42,319,624. Your local revenue would stay the same under both circumstances and your state aid would be $522,400 higher.”
“Once again, David Johnson is able to back up his opinion with facts and validates them with the opinions of those in positions of authority who know,” Beard said. “This should answer any questions and remove any doubt about our position with regard to the Pecan Plantation issue.”
