School Consolidation Impact on State and Local Revenues AndExpenditures in Texas

School Consolidation Impact on State and Local Revenues AndExpenditures in Texas PDF Author: Marvin Stewart
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267045508
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
This study examined financial aspects of the consolidation or annexation of 12 pairs of school districts in Texas during the period 1996-2006. Nine of the twelve districts consolidated by mutual agreement of the two school boards and three annexations were by order of the Commissioner of Education of Texas. Financial criteria studied were: (a) per pupil expenditures, (b) total state aid, (c) transportation costs, (d) administrative costs, (e) school district "wealth" status, and (f) facilities assets/liabilities. Each of the initial 24 independent school districts' criteria were collected for two years prior to consolidation and the 12 newly formed consolidated districts criteria were collected for the two years following consolidation. After consolidation, ten of the twelve districts had fewer than 1,000 students. Of the other two districts, one district had approximately 3,000 students and one large district had over 150,000 students. Some districts experienced increases in local expenditures relative to transportation, administrative costs and total expenditures while other districts decreased costs over time. Twelve non-consolidated districts with similar characteristics of the twelve consolidated districts were reviewed with the non-consolidated districts exhibiting increase and decrease fluctuations seen in the consolidated school districts. These findings suggested that each of the issues studied in public school finance need to be examined with more specific criteria in order to ascertain cause and effect relationships with regard to school consolidation financial impact on state and local revenues and expenditures. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest llc. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.].

School Consolidation Impact on State and Local Revenues AndExpenditures in Texas

School Consolidation Impact on State and Local Revenues AndExpenditures in Texas PDF Author: Marvin Stewart
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267045508
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
This study examined financial aspects of the consolidation or annexation of 12 pairs of school districts in Texas during the period 1996-2006. Nine of the twelve districts consolidated by mutual agreement of the two school boards and three annexations were by order of the Commissioner of Education of Texas. Financial criteria studied were: (a) per pupil expenditures, (b) total state aid, (c) transportation costs, (d) administrative costs, (e) school district "wealth" status, and (f) facilities assets/liabilities. Each of the initial 24 independent school districts' criteria were collected for two years prior to consolidation and the 12 newly formed consolidated districts criteria were collected for the two years following consolidation. After consolidation, ten of the twelve districts had fewer than 1,000 students. Of the other two districts, one district had approximately 3,000 students and one large district had over 150,000 students. Some districts experienced increases in local expenditures relative to transportation, administrative costs and total expenditures while other districts decreased costs over time. Twelve non-consolidated districts with similar characteristics of the twelve consolidated districts were reviewed with the non-consolidated districts exhibiting increase and decrease fluctuations seen in the consolidated school districts. These findings suggested that each of the issues studied in public school finance need to be examined with more specific criteria in order to ascertain cause and effect relationships with regard to school consolidation financial impact on state and local revenues and expenditures. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest llc. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.].

Small School District Consolidation in Texas

Small School District Consolidation in Texas PDF Author: Dwight A. Cooley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Historically, the number of school districts in the United States has decreased despite the obvious increase in the number of students. One cause of the reduction in school districts is that small rural school districts merge or consolidate with each other, resulting in fewer school districts. When school districts consolidate, all aspects of the school districts' operations are impacted. Each year lawmakers and rural school district officials face dwindling finances, and each year these decision makers question whether or not to consolidate small rural school districts. Proponents tout the benefits of fiscal efficiency, a broadened curriculum and an increase in student achievement. Critics argue that the community suffers when schools close as the result of school district consolidation. This investigation had dual focus areas. One area of investigation focused on the fiscal efficiency of consolidated school districts by comparing per pupil expenditures. The other investigation focused on student achievement levels by comparing passing rate percentages on the state assessment tests. Expenditure and student achievement data were collected before and after consolidation. A paired samples t-test measured differences in efficiency, and the Lawshe-Baker Nomograph t-test measured differences in student achievement. The t-tests did reveal a statistical difference in expenditures and in student achievement. Per pupil expenditures increased while student achievement decreased for the absorbing district.

School Finance Reform in Texas

School Finance Reform in Texas PDF Author: United States Commission on Civil Rights. Texas State Advisory Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Consolidation of Rural Schools, School Buildings and Plans and Local Taxation

Consolidation of Rural Schools, School Buildings and Plans and Local Taxation PDF Author: Texas. State Department of Education
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : School buildings
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Status of School Bonds in Texas Independent School Districts, 1942-1943

Status of School Bonds in Texas Independent School Districts, 1942-1943 PDF Author: Frank Leon Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Public schools
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"School bonded indebtedness and its servicing constitutes one of the major expenditures of the average public school. In many school districts this item of expenditure is second largest of the entire school budget, being exceeded only by the expenditure for teaching services. Revenue for the financing of school district bonded indebtedness in Texas comes entirely from local revenue for this purpose as provided for through taxation of personal and real property within the district. Prior to 1945 Texas school law provided that no school district could levy and collect for total school purposes, without special legislative action, more than one dollar per one hundred dollars property valuation. From this maximum of one dollar per one hundred dollars property valuation not more than fifty cents shall be used for the purpose of financing school bonded indebtedness. Any part of the maximum one dollar tax revenue which is not specifically allocated to the financing of bonds may be used in supplementing other revenue for the purpose of financing the total educational program within the district. This means that any district which collects the full one dollar school tax, but does not have sufficient bonds outstanding to require the full fifty cents for annual principal and interest payments, will have a proportionally greater amount to use on the remainder of its school program. As a consequence of this plan of financing, some school districts in Texas which are fortunate enough to be free of bonded indebtedness are privileged either to spend the full tax dollar on their educational program or to levy and collect a lesser rate of taxes on their property. The other extreme of this situation is that many schools, because of a large volume of outstanding bonded indebtedness, must use the entire fifty cents allowed under the law for servicing their bonds and, consequently, have only fifty cents remaining with which to supplement other income for their total financial program. Between these two extremes lie all the other school districts in the state. Of the total of 1,115 independent school districts in Texas for the school year 1942-1943, there were 331 which levied and collected the full, legal fifty-cent tax for the purpose of servicing their bonds. The remaining 784 had a financial advantage, and were able to offer a better educational program to their children, because of lesser bond servicing needs. This condition, therefore, constituted at that time and continues to constitute, a major cause of educational inequalities in the state of Texas"--Leaves 1-3

Texas Public School Finance: Resolving the Issue

Texas Public School Finance: Resolving the Issue PDF Author: Texas Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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School Finance Reform in Texas

School Finance Reform in Texas PDF Author: United States. Civil Rights Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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The Neglected Role of School District Revenue Instability

The Neglected Role of School District Revenue Instability PDF Author: Rekha Balu
Publisher: Stanford University
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Much of the school finance literature has focused on the distribution or equality of resources across school districts. Such literature compares levels of spending between school districts or states. But it has ignored the variability and unpredictability of those revenues within school districts over time. Meanwhile, public finance literature has focused on states or counties, and disregarded school districts as a unit of analysis for responses to fiscal stress. This dissertation addresses these gaps. First, drawing from techniques both within and outside of public finance, I contribute a new measure of fiscal stress based on unpredictability of state revenues. Second, I explicitly assess policy and tax mechanisms that may aggravate revenue instability for school districts and to what extent instability changes over time. Finally, I examine school districts response to chronic unpredictability in state revenues. Despite states' increasing reliance on more volatile sales and income taxes to fund public education, I find that unpredictability in state revenues to districts has declined by one-fourth of a standard deviation over time. In states that shifted to the more volatile sales and income tax base while also centralizing school finance as part of efforts to equalize school funding, unpredictability in state revenues to districts declined by a full standard deviation. In effect, centralization and more equal distribution of funding appears to trump the effects of a volatile tax base, as states have a greater ability to buffer against shocks than local education agencies do. Yet districts still face uncertain and unstable revenues from the states, aggravated by economic downturns. With primary and secondary data, I study the case of California where districts face uncertain cuts to their allocations during the year and between years. I use three key fiscal health measures: average revenue instability over time, whether revenues declined in the prior period, and the experience of the budget officer. I find that highly unstable districts are more likely to raise local revenues, but that cost-cutting is more prevalent that revenue-raising. Experienced budget officers use a greater variety of policy instruments to cope with instability, pointing to the under-explored role of management in the fiscal health of a district. These findings as a whole suggest that revenue instability merits further attention in the school finance literature in particular and public management in general. Unpredictability in states revenues is a phenomenon that concerns school districts, one that changes over time, but one to which they may adapt.

Revisiting School District Consolidation Issues. Education Policy Brief. Volume 8, Number 3, Summer 2010

Revisiting School District Consolidation Issues. Education Policy Brief. Volume 8, Number 3, Summer 2010 PDF Author: Terry E. Spradlin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
In light of a slow economic recovery from the Great Recession, state and local governments are faced with the challenge of providing services to citizens amidst ongoing budgetary woes. For instance, although the most recent Indiana revenue collections for the month of August were above revised projections to help start fiscal year 2011 (which commenced July 1, 2010), the state's revenues were far below amounts anticipated for the fiscal year 2010 budget. In total, revenue for fiscal year 2010 was $957 million less than budgeted and state revenues have dropped 12.3 percent over the past two years (Berry, 2010). States across the nation face estimated aggregate budget gaps of over $83 billion for the 2011 fiscal year (National Conference of State Legislators, 2010). In the current economic climate it is increasingly important for all levels of government to maximize efficiency and minimize costs wherever possible to prevent further service reductions or the necessity for a tax increase. School and school district consolidation has been debated as a potential source of cost savings for local and state governments. School and school district consolidation is the process of combining schools and/or school district administrative functions for the purpose of improving operating efficiency and/or expanding educational opportunities. The potential for cost savings through consolidation must be examined with respect to the impact such consolidation may have on student achievement. Recently, states have taken varying approaches to promoting consolidation at the school and district level. This policy brief provides a concise summary of the research on school and school district consolidation and a synopsis of the consolidation legislation passed in other states, with an emphasis on Maine, before analyzing legislative proposals and research specific to Indiana. A summary of school district consolidation feasibility studies conducted in Indiana is also included. (Contains 7 tables, 5 figures and 7 online resources.).

State-local financing of public schools

State-local financing of public schools PDF Author: Texas. Committee on State and Local Tax Policy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description