May 26, 2017      5:47 PM

Lack of school finance solution could close some districts

An even tougher year for school finance with the absence of folks like Jimmy Don Aycock and Scott Hochberg while the Senate went out of its way to avoid finance runs that might favor one formula over another

Superintendent Devin Tate figures he has enough savings in Beckville ISD to cover about a year before he must shut down his East Texas district.

Last night, with no legislative vehicle in sight to save Beckville or districts like it, Tate was going to a high school baseball playoff game against Gunter. He sat in the stands and thought about what he’s going to tell his parents and students about the future of Beckville. Like many rural communities, the school is the hub of community activities.

“That’s who we are,” Tate said. “That’s what we live for. That’s what we do.”

Beckville, a rural school district outside Carthage in East Texas with 650 students, is in the pool of districts that needed financial help from the state when tax rates were compressed in 2006. It’s called Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction, or ASATR. As property values have grown over the last seven years – and because of a major infusion of cash in 2015 – most districts have rolled off the ASATR roll. Most districts still drawing down ASATR are the outliers: small and rural; wealthy and low taxing; often dependent on the oil economy.

That was the case for Beckville.

By Kimberly Reeves

Copyright May 26, 2017, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved