Robin Hood Under Fire

The People of Texas Might Be the Final Judge
on the Fate of Public School Funding in the State

By MIKE HAILEY

Maybe Governor Rick Perry was right. Maybe the issue of school finance is going to take more than a few months to resolve.

It was the most difficult issue of the 1990s - and there's no reason to think it will be any less intricate, convoluted and politically unforgiving when legislators tackle it now. Candidates who have railed on and on about the share-the-wealth system are now legislators who realize that it's a lot easier to bad mouth Robin Hood than it is to actually end it.

In 1997, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock sent Senators a letter at the start of the session telling them that he had been advised by the Legislative Council that circumstances had changed enough to make it constitutionally possible to eliminate Robin Hood. The instant reaction from legislators was that most would love nothing more than to take the opening Bullock gave them and put an end to the current school finance system once and for all. But the interest faded just as quickly amid the painful realization of what the possible alternatives would be.

Robin Hood won't go away until legislators reach a consensus on what the replacement will be. Even then, a new system will be subject to constitutional test that it took legislators several years and several special sessions to pass last time they tried. Robin Hood was a last-ditch effort to keep a court order from closing the state's public schools. There were very few alternatives and there will be one less when they shut Robin Hood down.

Perry might have committed a public relations error when he told the local newspaper's editorial board that legislators probably wouldn't revamp the school finance system this year. The wise path might have been to boldly declare that he wanted the Legislature to devise a new system without further delay. But Perry has been around long enough to realize that legislators will not be inclined to pass something unless they are convinced it has support back home. And that's the problem. There simply is no hint of a consensus among anyone on a constitutional alternative to what we have now.

The people of Texas might have to make the ultimate decision on Robin Hood's fate. Before voters could decide on an alternative to the current system a major public awareness and education campaign would be required. The House Public Education Committee appeared to get the ball rolling on that when it approved Chairman Kent Grusendorf's bill to eliminate Robin Hood by 2005.

A staunch conservative, the Arlington Republican is one of the last people in the building you'd expect to ever support a state income tax. He still says that's not tops on his list of options, but he seems to care deeply about public education and he had the guts to say that all the alternatives must be on the table at this point in time.

Besides, Texas will not have an income tax until the people say so. To do so, voters would have to pass a constitutional amendment undoing a state income tax ban that they inserted into the Constitution 10 years ago. That might not seem likely considering that income taxes have been tantamount to political heresy in Texas. And don't forget it took a vote of the people to create a state lottery.

Grusendorf is doing Texans a favor by getting the dialogue under way early. Asked if he is truly optimistic about legislators reaching a consensus on a replacement plan, he said he hopes they can at least by 2005. Under the timetable proposed in his bill, the people would have two more years to study the alternatives to the current school funding system. Then they would have to ask themselves just how much they really hate Robin Hood and how steep a price they are willing to pay to get rid of it.

Mike Hailey's column appears weekly in the Viewpoints section