By: Parker S.J.R. No. 54
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
1-1 proposing a constitutional amendment relating to distribution of
1-2 the available school fund and to ad valorem taxes authorized for
1-3 the support of the public schools.
1-4 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article VII, Section 5(a), of the Texas
1-6 Constitution is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The principal of all bonds and other funds, and the
1-8 principal arising from the sale of the lands hereinbefore set apart
1-9 to said school fund, shall be the permanent school fund, and all
1-10 the interest derivable therefrom and the taxes herein authorized
1-11 and levied shall be the available school fund. The available
1-12 school fund shall be applied annually to the support of the public
1-13 free schools. Except as provided by this section, no law shall
1-14 ever be enacted appropriating any part of the permanent or
1-15 available school fund to any other purpose whatever; nor shall the
1-16 same, or any part thereof ever be appropriated to or used for the
1-17 support of any sectarian school; and the available school fund
1-18 herein provided shall be distributed to provide efficiently for a
1-19 general diffusion of knowledge statewide <the several counties
1-20 according to their scholastic population> and applied in such
1-21 manner as may be provided by law.
1-22 SECTION 2. Article VII, Section 3, of the Texas Constitution
1-23 is amended to read as follows:
2-1 Sec. 3. (a) One-fourth of the revenue derived from the
2-2 State occupation taxes <and poll tax of one dollar on every
2-3 inhabitant of the State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty
2-4 years,> shall be set apart annually for the benefit of the public
2-5 free schools; and in addition thereto, the Legislature may
2-6 authorize <there shall be levied and collected> an annual ad
2-7 valorem State tax of such an amount not to exceed twenty-five
2-8 <thirty-five> cents on the one hundred ($100.00) dollars
2-9 valuation<, as with the available school fund arising from all
2-10 other sources, will be sufficient> to maintain and support the
2-11 public schools of this State <for a period of not less than six
2-12 months in each year>, and it shall be the duty of the State Board
2-13 of Education to set aside a sufficient amount out of the said tax
2-14 to provide free text books for the use of children attending the
2-15 public free schools of this State; provided, however, that should
2-16 the <limit of> taxation herein named be insufficient the deficit
2-17 may be met by appropriation from the general funds of the State and
2-18 the Legislature may also provide for the formation of school
2-19 district by general laws.
2-20 (b) School<; and all such school> districts may embrace
2-21 parts of two or more counties.
2-22 (c) In addition to the state ad valorem tax, <and> the
2-23 Legislature shall be authorized to pass laws for the assessment and
2-24 collection of taxes in all said districts and for the management
2-25 and control of the public school or schools of such districts,
3-1 whether such districts are composed of territory wholly within a
3-2 county or in parts of two or more counties, and the Legislature may
3-3 authorize an additional ad valorem tax to be levied and collected
3-4 within all school districts heretofore formed or hereafter formed,
3-5 for the further maintenance of public free schools, and for the
3-6 erection and equipment of school buildings therein; provided that a
3-7 majority of the qualified property taxpaying voters of the district
3-8 voting at an election to be held for that purpose, shall vote such
3-9 tax not to exceed in any one year one ($1.00) dollar on the one
3-10 hundred dollars valuation of the property subject to taxation in
3-11 such district, but the limitation upon the amount of school
3-12 district tax herein authorized shall not apply to incorporated
3-13 cities or towns constituting separate and independent school
3-14 districts, nor to independent or common school districts created by
3-15 general or special law.
3-16 SECTION 3. Article VIII, Section 1-e, Subsection 1, of the
3-17 Texas Constitution is amended to read as follows:
3-18 1. No State ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon any
3-19 property within this State, except that the legislature, for the
3-20 support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free
3-21 schools, may enact legislation to provide for the equitable
3-22 distribution among school districts of a State ad valorem tax.
3-23 SECTION 4. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
3-24 submitted to the voters at an election to be held on November 2,
3-25 1993. The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
4-1 against the proposition: "The constitutional amendment authorizing
4-2 the equitable distribution of the available school fund and of a
4-3 state ad valorem tax among school districts for the support and
4-4 maintenance of public free schools."