1. Presentation to Plano ISD Key Communicators October 19, 2017
TAXPARENCY
Presentation to Plano ISD Key Communicators
October 19, 2017

2. Definition of Taxparency:
“The condition of being transparent with respect to taxpayer dollars.”

3. Purpose of Taxparency
The purpose of Taxparency is to educate and inform the public about the collection and allocation of local school property tax revenue.

4. Taxpayers should know…

5. Funding for Public Education
Public schools are funded through:
State General Revenue Fund,
Local Property Taxes, and
Federal Funds
AND, schools are funded based on student enrollment, not property values.

6. Plano ISD Tax Rate
Plano ISD’s tax rate is the second lowest ISD tax rate in Collin County; second only to Farmersville.

7. Need for Transparency:
26.1%
I & S
26.1%
I & S
27.0%
Recapture
$81.3%
M & O
52.7%
M & O

8. To improve transparency, legislators should:
Modify required wording in public announcements, notifications, and property tax statements to accurately reflect the contribution of local property tax payments and state funds.
Taxpayers need information to understand that increases in property taxes do not necessarily equate to increases in school operating budgets.

9. Recapture
Recapture (a.k.a. Robin Hood) is a financing mechanism to reduce a district’s funding per student to a statutorily determined level.
Increases in any recapture payments or taxes from property value growth will decrease the state’s General Revenue Funds contribution required to finance the Foundation School Program in the current biennium.

10. Taxpayers should know…
FACT:
$5.40 billion - State realized “savings” from property value increases in
$4.25 billion increase from property values
$1.15 billion increase from Robin Hood
Taxpayers deserve to know why all of their school property tax payments are not dedicated to funding education and where those tax payments are actually going.

11. Surprise!
“When my city and county taxes increase due to property value increases, city and county operating budgets increase.”
T R U E
“When my school district taxes increase due to property values increases, school district operating budgets increase.”
F A L S E

12. Surprise!

13. Did you know?

14. Plano ISD Recapture Example

15. Plano ISD Recapture Example

16. Plano ISD Recapture Example

17. Plano ISD Recapture Example

18. Plano ISD Recapture Example

19. Recapture Tax Increase in 4 Years

20. Taxpayers should know…
Texas taxpayers are not aware that public school districts get very little, if any, additional operating revenue when property values rise.
In the biennium, the Legislature reduced its obligation to the Foundation School Program by $2.6 billion, permitting the state to fund other programs and services in the state budget.

21. Taxpayers should know

22. Taxpayers should know…
State funding per student
$4,226
$3,431
Taxpayers deserve to know why the state is not funding schools at an amount at least equal to the amount in 2008, given the increases in local tax payments.
$795.00*
*Adjusted for inflation

23. What YOU can do:
Stay connected by visiting TaxparencyTexas.org
Follow TaxparencyTexas.org on Twitter and Facebbok
Send a letter to your legislative delegation
Call and/or your legislators and ask for Taxparency
Ask legislators and candidates whether they support the state of Texas paying its fair share