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Texas Agriculture Archive
April 7, 2006
Special legislative session
called for April 17
By Bobby Horecka
Field Editor
State lawmakers will head back to Austin for a special session on April 17, following the announcement by Gov. Rick Perry in mid-March.
Specific issues facing the Legislature will be announced at a later date, but no doubt, school finance will top their agenda.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled the current finance system unconstitutional after observing that most school districts around the state had reached the maximum $1.50 per $100 valuation tax cap, a levy the courts later determined was necessary to fund state-mandated curriculums and left school districts without reasonable discretion of their tax assessments at the local level.
Given so many districts had reached the cap, the courts ruled, it broke the state law forbidding a statewide property tax. Lawmakers now have until June 1 to come up with another plan.
"This special session provides legislators of both parties a rare opportunity to significantly reduce property taxes, make substantial reforms to the franchise tax so it is fairer and broader, and ensure our schools have a reliable and constitutional stream of revenue," Perry said.
Texas Farm Bureau State Legislative Director Billy Howe said legislators will have 30 days in which to find a solution or face the prospect of missing the court-stipulated June 1 deadline.
While legislative leadership remains at odds over the best solution to the school finance problem, Howe said the most likely course of action comes in the form of revenues raised by an increase to the state sales tax.
Upping the sales tax will allow the state to effectively buy down the school finances and allow local districts more discretion in their tax rate scenarios. By doing so, the state eliminates the court's concern over the constitutionality of the school finance system. However, it will only provide a short term fix, Howe said.
Broader reforms may have to wait until the next regular session of the state legislature set to convene in 2007, when lawmakers won't face the limited time constraints of a special session.
