‘Stop stealing our community’s money’: Texas district sues state over school finance policy 

A disgruntled Texas school district has sued the state over a property tax measure designed to funnel money to lower-income school districts, known as the “Robin Hood” school finance system.

Midland ISD Board President Josh Guinn described the lawsuit as a way to force the state’s hand, according to The Texas Tribune.

“Enough’s enough,” he said before the board unanimously voted to proceed with the lawsuit. “You’re going to stop stealing our community’s money.”

Midland ISD is among the state’s top 10 districts sending money through the recapture system, which was enacted in 1993 after another lawsuit, according to The Texas Tribune.

“Underfunded schools – led by the predominantly Hispanic and low-income Edgewood district in San Antonio – sued the state over substantial disparities in resources between their children and those attending school in wealthier communities.”

However, the number of districts paying money back to the state has grown from 34 in 1994 to more than 170 in 2021, D Magazine reported.

“Despite the animus, recapture has proved hard to kill: it survived similar challenges in 1995, 2005, and 2016,” the magazine noted, adding that the money collected has grown from $127 million to more than $3 billion.

“Many question whether that money truly gets redistributed to less property-rich districts. They also desire more transparency around property tax relief legislation.”

‘Property wealth is not educational wealth’

Critics of the current system argue it no longer provides the educational equity it was originally intended to achieve.

“Property wealth is not educational wealth. You cannot teach a child with a mineral appraisal,” Midland ISD trustee Matt Friez said. “You need a teacher standing in front of the child. The recapture formula sees the minerals beneath our feet and does not adequately see what it costs out here in Midland to hire and retain a great teacher above them.”

Even major urban districts with declining enrollment and high numbers of students in poverty, such as Austin ISD, are paying billions through recapture, The Texas Tribune reported.

Other districts, such as Dallas ISD, are watching closely.

“If Midland is successful in its attempt to force the state to re-examine how it funds education, it would have statewide ramifications,” Bethany Erickson wrote for D Magazine.

Even if the Robin Hood system remains in place, many community observers are calling for greater transparency about how the money is spent.

“You should be able to go and see that your GCISD $66 million recapture payment, this is how the state spent it on education,” D Magazine quoted then-Grapevine-Colleyville board president Shannon Braun as saying in 2023. “But it goes into the general fund, and they can’t account for it.”

Guinn also criticized lawmakers over what he sees as their failure to adequately address the state’s school finance policies.

“They’re setting the tax rate. We collect the taxes. We send it to the state,” he said. “Then we get blamed as a local district and local board member for taxes being high. It’s just a revolving door.”