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SweetBabyRay

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Posts posted by SweetBabyRay

  1. 3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

    So, on schools, and the concepts of being funded by property taxes and “property rich” v. “property poor” districts, here’s my thought for an “adjustment” that could help us make sense of things:

    1) Consider average/total property values of RESIDENTIAL property values in a district to determine the base allocation to each district. Homes (and multifamily buildings used to provide residences) are the measure of “how many people are there to be served in the district.” And if we did that, I would bet that we’d be surprised how much the “property wealth” gap narrows between districts. The bucket of “residential property value” dollars per student in Frisco might be pretty similar to the dollars-per-student allocation in Austin, etc. At the very least, I think the spread would be a lot less than it currently is.

    2) THEN, consider the value of business property as a separate bucket – maybe even a statewide bucket? Because those folks in Prosper and Frisco and Katy don’t generate the bulk of their income dollars in those places (sure, there ARE businesses there – mostly businesses that serve local populations, like groceries, Lowes, what have you). Rather, the economic engines – and the huge dollar value real properties – are in the cities. Those tall downtown office buildings have the valuation of several hundred homes (and yes, there’s also big outliers when it comes to industrial sites, like the big Dow plant in Brazoria county, the plants in Jefferson County). The point is – and maybe my proposal is – that non-residential properties should have their property taxes put in a single statewide pool to go to all schools on something like a per capita basis. With this element MAYBE subject to my third suggestion.

    3) Those statewide dollars should be allocated on a per capita basis, ADJUSTED for local cost of living. Because a teacher can afford a place to live in Prosper and Sweetwater, and Tyler on $45k a year - they need more than that to afford a decent place in most cities. The purchase price of real property to build a new school is cheaper in those places than in Austin or Dallas. So, come up with some sort of “local costs” adjuster method, and apply that to the allocation of the collective state dollars.

    Because ultimately, yes, it’s bullshit that suburban schools (with relatively lower total property values) can afford to build football palaces, whereas urban schools (in districts that are property rich because of the density and value of urban business properties) have leaky roofs and no AC.

    Unfortunately, the suburban/rural vs. urban divide and hatefest in this state will prevent any examination of the issue along those lines. Our politicians will continue to favor the suburbs, and be at war with cities. And if the collateral damage is the kids who live in those urban areas, fuck ‘em.

    Good post. Not sure if that's political feasible, not from the politics point of view, but complexity.

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