Governor Abbott's Proposal to Limit Property Taxes

The Governor has floated a proposal to change the method for financing schools and to limit the growth of property taxes for all state government entities unless voters vote to override the statuary limit. A brief summary of the Governor's proposal can be found here, an 86-page slide show titled “Improving Student Outcomes and Maintaining Affordability through Comprehensive Education and Tax Reforms”. Texas Tribune

The two main arms of the proposal would give school districts financial incentives to improve student performance, as well as cap the revenue school districts can collect from property taxes in order to decrease tax rates. 

The governor's report appears to propose replicating a Dallas ISD program giving stipends to high-quality teachers who choose to work in struggling schools — cited as crucial in helping the district whittle down its list of low-performing schools.

One comment on the proposal to give stipends to high-quality teachers to work in struggling schools; this needs to be coupled with the removal of many rules and regulations that prohibit teachers from being creative and using techniques that work for individuals and individual classrooms. Without these types of reforms, the "good" teachers will get discouraged and burned out!

An overview of the Governor's proposal.

The Governor's proposal on limiting school taxes follows:

Even though the Governor's proposal does not eliminate recapture, it does significantly reduces its growth.

Here is the Governor's rationale for his proposal.

We know that the City of Georgetown is against any limitation on their ability to increase your property taxes, in fact they have publicly stated they are against such limits and they are going to spend your tax money lobbying against your best interest with the Texas Legislature.

We can hardly wait to see the arguments the City puts forth against this proposal. Austin and San Antonio have already advanced the argument that these limits would not let them invest in affordable housing! It would seem they have forgotten the proper role of government which is public safety, transportation, libraries, waste treatment and parks, NOT affordable housing!

It is safe to assume the school district and the county are also against this proposal and are going to spend taxpayer money to try and defeat this proposal.

It would seem that spending your hard-earned money to lobby the legislature against your economic interests is unethical. What do you think?

If you don't agree with your city, county and school district officials, get involved and let your state legislators know you support limits on taxing authority!