May 27, 2015 1:28 PM

School districts fight to neutralize sting of local homestead exemptions

No good deed goes unpunished, and that certainly extends to school districts that offer local homestead exemptions

School districts that offer local homestead exemptions will be fighting hard to keep a Texas House amendment in Senate Bill 1 that will cost the state $400 million.

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, and that certainly extends to school districts that offer local homestead exemptions. A combination of government code and education code make sure the state bears the full cost of any such exemption. Even so, the estimated 250 or so school districts that offer some form of those exemptions are loathe to end them, even in the most dire of financial times.

School districts on the table include a slew of Harris County school districts, as well as the Houston and Dallas ISD’s. School districts offering tax breaks fall in both the property wealthy and property poor categories. It does not include Austin ISD.

By Kimberly Reeves