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Bill to increase funding weights for smallest school districts moves out of K-12 Subcommittee
Summary
House Bill 226, which increases small-district funding weights, was amended and advanced to full education (6–0, 1 present-not-voting). Sponsors said the change aims to help districts with 1,000 or fewer students that face budget strain; the committee recorded counts and dollar examples in discussion.
Chairman Hastings, sponsor of House Bill 226, told the subcommittee that smaller school districts face budget pressures from declines in economically disadvantaged funding, salary increases and grant changes. He said the bill would change the allocation for small school districts (1000 or fewer students) from 5% per ADM to 6%, and includes a 1% provision the sponsor estimated would be about $73 per student. An amendment (14437) that rights the bill language was adopted without objection.
Members pressed the sponsor on distributional effects. The chair and sponsor asserted the change "would not reduce" funds for large counties such as Williamson County and provided comparative figures: Williamson County ~41,000 students and ~$140 million in local tax revenue, while the 11 smallest counties combined have ~11,000 students and ~$11 million in local revenue. The sponsor told members there are 23 districts with fewer than 1,000 students and 14 districts in the other small-ADM bracket referenced in the discussion. The clerk recorded 6 ayes, 0 nos and 1 present-not-voting; the bill will be considered next by the full Education Committee.
The transcript contains a partially unclear phrase about a "2% allocation for districts with ADM between 2,500"; reporters should consult the bill text for precise ADM ranges and applicable percentages before publication.
