By: Shapiro S.B. No. 22
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to public school finance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 42.009 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.009. LIMITATION ON REVENUE DECREASES.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, a school
district is entitled to receive in any school year an amount of
state and local maintenance and operations revenue per student in
weighted average daily attendance that is not more than ____
percent less than the amount of state and local maintenance and
operations revenue per student in weighted average daily attendance
received by the district during the preceding school year.
(b) Enrichment revenue to which a school district is
entitled under Section 42.302 is not included for purposes of
determining the amount a school district is entitled to receive
under this section.
(c) The commissioner shall make adjustments to amounts due
to a school district under this chapter or amounts required for a
district to comply with Chapter 41 as necessary to comply with the
amount a district is entitled to receive under this section.
(d) A determination by the commissioner under this section
is final and may not be appealed.
SECTION 2. Section 42.101(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) For each student in average daily attendance, not
including the time students spend each day in special education
programs in an instructional arrangement other than mainstream or
career and technology education programs, for which an additional
allotment is made under Subchapter C, a district is entitled to an
allotment equal to the lesser of $_______ [$4,765] or the amount
that results from the following formula:
A = $_______ [$4,765] X (DCR/MCR)
where:
"A" is the allotment to which a district is entitled;
"DCR" is the district's compressed tax rate, which is the
product of the state compression percentage, as determined under
Section 42.2516, multiplied by the maintenance and operations tax
rate adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year; and
"MCR" is the state maximum compressed tax rate, which is the
product of the state compression percentage, as determined under
Section 42.2516, multiplied by $1.50.
SECTION 3. Section 42.2516, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (b-2) and (b-3) to read as follows:
(b-2) If a school district adopts a maintenance and
operations tax rate that is below the rate equal to the product of
the state compression percentage multiplied by the maintenance and
operations tax rate adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year,
the commissioner shall reduce the district's entitlement under this
section in proportion to the amount by which the adopted rate is
less than the rate equal to the product of the state compression
percentage multiplied by the rate adopted by the district for the
2005 tax year.
(b-3) The commissioner shall reduce by ____ percent the
total amount of state and local revenue per student in weighted
average daily attendance to which a school district is entitled
under Subsection (b)(1).
SECTION 4. Section 42.253(h), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) If the amount appropriated for the Foundation School
Program for the second year of a state fiscal biennium is less than
the amount to which school districts are entitled for that year, the
commissioner shall certify the amount of the difference to the
Legislative Budget Board not later than January 1 of the second year
of the state fiscal biennium. The Legislative Budget Board shall
propose to the legislature that the certified amount be transferred
to the foundation school fund from the economic stabilization fund
and appropriated for the purpose of increases in allocations under
this subsection. If the legislature fails during the regular
session to enact the proposed transfer and appropriation and there
are not funds available under Subsection (j), the commissioner
shall reduce the total amount of state funds allocated to each
district by an amount determined by applying to each district,
including a district receiving funds under Section 42.2516, the
same percentage reduction so that the total amount of the reduction
to all districts [a method under which the application of the same
number of cents of increase in tax rate in all districts applied to
the taxable value of property of each district, as determined under
Subchapter M, Chapter 403, Government Code,] results in an amount
[a total levy] equal to the total reduction. The following fiscal
year, a district's entitlement under this section is increased by
an amount equal to the reduction made under this subsection.
SECTION 5. Section 44.004, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g-1) to read as follows:
(g-1) If the rate calculated under Section
44.004(c)(5)(A)(ii)(b) decreases after the publication of the
notice required by this section, the president is not required to
publish another notice or call another meeting to discuss and adopt
the budget and the proposed lower tax rate.
SECTION 6. Section 26.05(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The governing body of each taxing unit, before the later
of September 30 or the 60th day after the date the certified
appraisal roll is received by the taxing unit, shall adopt a tax
rate for the current tax year and shall notify the assessor for the
unit of the rate adopted. The tax rate consists of two components,
each of which must be approved separately. The components are:
(1) for a taxing unit other than a school district, the
rate that, if applied to the total taxable value, will impose the
total amount published under Section 26.04(e)(3)(C), less any
amount of additional sales and use tax revenue that will be used to
pay debt service, or, for a school district, the rate calculated
[published] under Section 44.004(c)(5)(A)(ii)(b), Education Code;
and
(2) the rate that, if applied to the total taxable
value, will impose the amount of taxes needed to fund maintenance
and operation expenditures of the unit for the next year.
SECTION 7. Sections 42.101(a-1) and (a-2), Education Code,
are repealed.
SECTION 8. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter
42, Education Code, apply beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.
SECTION 9. The change in law made by Section 44.004(g-1),
Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with
adoption of a tax rate for the 2011 tax year.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2011.