Analyses in the rearview mirror: School finance and property taxes

2017 Year in Review

A lively legislative session — and a special session — that featured fights over bathrooms. Legal battles over abortion, immigration policy and political maps. A devastating hurricane. 2017 was filled with nonstop news in Texas. Here are the highlights.

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Texas legislators have been wrestling with school finance for decades, most recently balancing state and local financing for public schools more than a decade ago. Since then, the state’s share of the total per student cost has dropped, and the local share has risen to cover that — and then some.

In turn, school property taxes account for more than half of the average property tax bill. Rising property taxes are a top complaint of voters — one the state’s officeholders hear clearly and hope to resolve.

The problem? That forces them to choose from a list of unpopular options: Higher state taxes, higher local property taxes or cuts to public education. It’s hard to do, as you can see from the scant results.

Here’s a sampling of columns tracking the debates over school finance and property taxes in 2017:

•  Analysis: Texas budget writers treasure that school tax you hate (Jan. 13, 2017)

In the midst of all the gloomy state budget news, this stuck out like a gold nugget in a cow patty: Rising property values in the state’s school districts translate into higher local tax revenue, cutting the state's obligation to education.

• Analysis: Texas makes do with broken but legal school finance system (Feb. 13, 2017)

It’s a confusing time in school finance, with a maelstrom of local and state governments trying to master a byzantine system that is faltering in every way but the most important one: The courts say it's broken, but constitutionally sound.

• Analysis: A state school finance system that can choke a city’s growth (April 10, 2017)

A state that wants to grow by freeing economic engines from regulations and taxes is throttling its cities and school districts with regulations and taxes.

• Analysis: The taxes Texas school districts are afraid to cut (April 14, 2017)

A state law that's supposed to keep a leash on school tax increases might be preventing temporary tax breaks in the Texas districts with the highest tax rates. But reversing it could make it easier to raise taxes.

• Analysis: Broken school finance system spawns wild solutions (Aug. 14, 2017)

In Austin — the poster child for property tax recapture in Texas right now — the school district is telling taxpayers they’ll be sending $2.6 billion to the state over the next five years. That's inspiring some crazy ideas.