EDUCATION Austin ISD pushing for recapture reform
WHAT IS RECAPTURE? Recapture was enacted by the Texas Legislature in 1993 to equalize wealth levels among school districts. Under Chapter 49 of the state education code, a district that brings in more local revenue than it is entitled to is considered property-wealthy and must pay its excess local revenue to the state to be distributed to property-poor districts.
Below is the baseline function for recapture, but the rate is adjusted based on factors such as school size and number of low-income campuses. Basic allotment per student ($6,160) Average daily attendance Entitlement—how much the district can keep X =
BY CHLOE YOUNG
Austin ISD is expecting to pay a record amount, almost $846 million, in local property tax revenue to the state through a process known as recapture for the 2022-23 school year—a more than 350% increase in recapture payments since 2015. As AISD faces nancial hurdles, district o cials and school nance advocates will be pushing to reform a system that they say is inequitable in the 2023 Texas legislative cycle. “We are at a breaking point,” AISD Chief Financial O cer Eduardo Ramos said. How did AISD get here? In 1993, the Texas Legislature implemented recap- ture following a series of court rulings addressing inequalities in school funding. The state determines a district’s entitlement—how much it should cost to educate a student—through a complex set of formulas, said Amanda Brownson, associate executive director of policy research for the Texas Association of School Business O cials. How much revenue the district is entitled to is determined by the number of students enrolled and daily attendance, Brownson said. Any revenue over the district’s entitlement is sent to the state to be redistributed to poor districts. In 2021, AISD paid roughly $700 million, more than the next top ve recapture-paying districts combined. While property values are increasing in Travis County, bringing the district more revenue, the dis- trict’s decreasing enrollment means those gains are going to the state. Enrollment has dropped by almost 10,000 students since 2015, according to AISD. What does this mean for AISD? AISD is projecting to pay over $1 billion in recapture for the 2025-26 school year, Ramos said at a meeting March 25 with city and county leaders. Ramos said the district will go bankrupt in the next three to four years if it continues to spend as it has.
Instruction
AUSTIN ISD’S TAX DOLLARS
Facilities, security & data processing Student support
To state recapture
Austin ISD
$835.28M
Just over half of every tax dollar paid to Austin ISD is projected to go recapture in 2022-23.
Campus admin Central admin Other
Available for Austin ISD:
Revenue: $1.68B
SOURCES: AUSTIN ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
In the 2023 legislative session, Ramos said the dis- trict will advocate for increased per student funding, cost-of-living and in ation adjustments, and a dis- count for paying recapture early or on time. Christy Rome, executive director of the Texas School Coalition, said the formula to determine what it costs to educate students is awed because it does not account for di erent costs of living. “Austin ISD is having to pay their employees to live in a community with a very high cost of living,” Rome said. Her organization will also ask the Legislature to increase the basic allotment of funding per student, account for di erences in cost of living and provide a discount for paying recapture early. Rome and Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter, who runs a school nance advocacy group called Just Fund it TX, said their organizations will also advocate for more transparency, as there has been some concern about how recaptured dollars are used.
On June 23, the board adopted a $1.68 billion bud- get for scal year 2022-23, with over half going toward recapture. The district cut 600 employees for 2022-23 and reduced department budgets by 10%, Ramos said. “We’re at a point where we have to reduce our expenditures through sta ng in order to be able to make our recapture payment,” Ramos said. Austin High School teacher Miranda Grabowski said she has felt the weight of those e ects. She said the school’s science department received no funding for its budget from the district in the 2021-22 year. “We’re essentially having to either pay out of our own pocket for things our students are going to need or ask parents for donations,” Grabowski said. What can the district do? In 2019, the Legislature passed House Bill 3, which reduced the recapture rate to a degree, but Ramos said the e ects were temporary and lessened by growing in ation and Austin’s high cost of living.
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