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School Is in Session
School started in our bigger district yesterday — it starts in the smaller district next week. Parents and kids are thrilled. Our county deputies and police officers welcomed kids to the local schools.
If you recall my earlier conversation, several political entities tried to stop schools from opening but the governor and attorney general came down on the side of local school boards making their own decisions. I hope things only get better from here. As of yesterday, we have no documented active cases of COVID in our county.
Published in General
Wow, I didn’t think any school got less than ours. Good for you. While it is hard, not being a slave to feds is a good thing. Not that there aren’t any number of unfunded mandates.
I think Hillsdale’s plan for return to in-person classes is amazing, although Elder will be remote-learning because of her health issues. Check it out:
https://returnplan.hillsdale.edu/home
Texas also has its school funding equalization system, where property-rich school district turn over part of their tax money to the state, which then gives it to property-poor districts. That came about from the settlement of a federal lawsuit 30 years ago, and the funds available in recent years have shot up, because oil and gas are part of the property tax base, and the fracking boom pre-COVID caused those numbers to explode (the district I’m in is per-capita, the richest in the state now due to that, and as a result, sent almost $105 million in property taxes to Austin this year for redistribution. They got to keep about $45 million under the funding formula based on student enrollment/average daily attendance and other demographic factors, while the state lets you keep some of your money if you spend it towards school-related items. That encourages district to take out bonds for projects, which is fine … as long as oil and gas prices don’t collapse. Then you’re stuck paying off a huge bond issue with fewer property tax $$$, but the state still wants their money).