78R9127 T
By: Merritt H.J.R. No. 8
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment relating to establishing the
Texas Great Teachers & Facilities Fund as a sequestered fund,
funded by dedicated sales tax revenue, and providing for mandatory
ad valorem property tax relief.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 5, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5. Permanent school fund; available school fund; Texas
Great Teachers & Facilities Fund, use of funds; distributions;
investments; Texas growth fund
(a) The principal of all bonds and other funds, and the
principal arising from the sale of the lands hereinbefore set apart
to said school fund, shall be the permanent school fund, and all the
interest derivable therefrom and the taxes herein authorized and
levied shall be the available school fund. The available school
fund shall be applied annually to the support of the public free
schools. Except as provided by this section, no law shall ever be
enacted appropriating any part of the permanent or available school
fund to any other purpose whatever; nor shall the same, or any part
thereof ever be appropriated to or used for the support of any
sectarian school[; and the available school fund herein provided
shall be distributed to the several counties according to their
scholastic population and applied in such manner as may be provided
by law].
(b) The legislature by law may provide for using the
permanent school fund and the income from the permanent school fund
to guarantee bonds issued by school districts or by the state for
the purpose of making loans to or purchasing the bonds of school
districts for the purpose of acquisition, construction, or
improvement of instructional facilities including all furnishings
thereto. If any payment is required to be made by the permanent
school fund as a result of its guarantee of bonds issued by the
state, an amount equal to this payment shall be immediately paid by
the state from the treasury to the permanent school fund. An amount
owed by the state to the permanent school fund under this section
shall be a general obligation of the state until paid. The amount of
bonds authorized hereunder shall not exceed $750 million or a
higher amount authorized by a two-thirds record vote of both houses
of the legislature. If the proceeds of bonds issued by the state
are used to provide a loan to a school district and the district
becomes delinquent on the loan payments, the amount of the
delinquent payments shall be offset against state aid to which the
district is otherwise entitled.
(c) The legislature may appropriate part of the available
school fund for administration of the permanent school fund or of a
bond guarantee program established under this section.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
constitution, in managing the assets of the permanent school fund,
the State Board of Education may acquire, exchange, sell,
supervise, manage, or retain, through procedures and subject to
restrictions it establishes and in amounts it considers
appropriate, any kind of investment, including investments in the
Texas growth fund created by Article XVI, Section 70, of this
constitution, that persons of ordinary prudence, discretion, and
intelligence, exercising the judgment and care under the
circumstances then prevailing, acquire or retain for their own
account in the management of their affairs, not in regard to
speculation but in regard to the permanent disposition of their
funds, considering the probable income as well as the probable
safety of their capital.
(e) A separate fund, to be known as the Texas Great Teachers &
Facilities Fund, shall be applied annually for the support of
teaching, instruction, and the construction or maintenance of
educational facilities in the public free schools. No law shall
ever be enacted appropriating any part of the Texas Great Teachers &
Facilities Fund to any other purpose whatever; nor shall the same,
or any part thereof, ever be appropriated to or used for the support
of any sectarian school.
(f) The following revenue sources shall be dedicated to the
Texas Great Teachers & Facilities Fund:
(i) 100% of the net revenue collected from an
additional 2.8% tax on the sales price of any taxable item or motor
vehicle sold in this state, such tax to be imposed in addition to
any currently existing tax on such sales;
(ii) that portion of the sales tax collected under
existing law equal to the net proceeds of a 3.0% tax on the sales
price of any taxable item or motor vehicle sold in this State;
(iii) 100% of the net revenue collected from a tax on
cigarettes;
(iv) 100% of the net revenue collected from a tax on
the sale domestic or imported Distilled Spirits, Beer, Wine,
Liquor, Mixed Beverages, Cigars, and Other Tobacco;
(v) 100% of the net Public Utility Gross Receipts
Assessments;
(vi) 100% of the net Gas, Electric, and Water Utility
Tax;
(vii) 100% of the net proceeds from any State Lottery.
(g) To the extent that The Texas Great Teachers & Facilities
Fund requires additional revenues to fully fund expenditures for
teaching, instruction, and the construction or maintenance of
educational facilities, monies from the available school fund shall
be dedicated to fully funding the Texas Great Teachers & Facilities
Fund. If the available school fund receives more revenue than is
needed to fully fund the Texas Great Teachers & Facilities Fund, the
unused portion of that revenue shall be applied annually to the
support of public free schools, distributed to the several counties
according to their scholastic population, and applied in such
manner as may be provided by law.
(h) Subject to ad valorem tax increases for local
supplementation provided for in Section (i), in the first year in
which the Texas Great Teachers & Facilities Fund is created, no
independent school district shall receive more in combined state
aid and local ad valorem revenue than 110% of the amount received in
the prior year. Each school district shall reduce its local ad
valorem tax assessments by whatever amount is necessary to meet the
requirements of this section. A school district shall be deemed to
have complied with the requirements of this section if it reduces
its local ad valorem tax assessments to zero.
(i) After the reduction, if any, in local ad valorem tax
assessment have been made as provided in Section 5(g), a school
district may subsequently increase the ad valorem maintenance and
operation tax rate, by an election called and held for that purpose,
as follows:
(i) for propositions to authorize an ad valorem tax of
not more than $0.75 on the $100 valuation of taxable property in the
district, only if approved by a majority of those actually voting in
the election;
(ii) for propositions to authorize an ad valorem tax
of more than $0.75 and less than or equal to $1.00 on the $100
valuation of taxable property in the district, only if approved by
at least sixty percent (60%) of those actually voting in the
election;
(iii) for propositions to authorize an ad valorem tax of
more than $1.00 and less than or equal to $1.25 on the $100
valuation of taxable property in the district, only if approved by
at least sixty-seven percent (67%) of those actually voting in the
election.
(j) No school district shall impose an ad valorem tax at a
rate exceeding $1.25 per $100 of taxable property within the
district.
SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election held November 4, 2003. The
ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment to create the Texas
Great Teachers & Facilities Fund as a sequestered fund, funded with
dedicated sales tax revenues, and mandating a reduction in the rate
of local ad valorem taxes."