| TO: | Honorable Rob Eissler, Chair, House Committee on Public Education |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2848 by Smithee (Relating to treatment under the public school finance system of a school district that imposes a maintenance and operations tax at a rate below the rate otherwise required for entitlement to state funding.), As Introduced |
The bill would strengthen the financial penalties for a district that is subject to recapture that also lowers its maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate below that which is required to raise its total local share of the Foundation School Program. For these districts, the bill would establish the cost of attendance credits at the amount of the district's M&O revenue that would be available at the rate required to raise these districts' total local share. Also, the bill would prorate affected districts' allotments under Subchapters B and C of Chapter 42, Education Code, in proportion to the amount by which the adopted rate is less than the rate required to raise the districts' total local shares.
The bill would also repeal Section 42.008, Education Code, which currently limits increases in FSP revenue from one school year to the next to $350 per student in weighted average daily attendance (WADA).
For the purposes of this fiscal note it is assumed that the provisions of the bill would make it unlikely that a significant number of districts would consider adopting an M&O tax rate below their compressed tax rates; as a result, the bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact to the Foundation School Program.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, LXH, JGM
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