FortBendNow.com

In a statement issued late Friday afternoon, Fort Bend ISD Board President Sonal Bhuchar said “the record must be set straight” over the district’s recent decision to raise the district’s debt service tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year.

During a public hearing on the proposed budget and tax rate, State Rep. Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land) criticized trustees for raising the tax rate when other public entities were either lowering or maintaining existing rates.

Howard’s remarks brought strong rebukes from trustees Steve Smelley and Bob Broxson. Smelley said he was “humiliated” by Howard’s statement, while Broxson suggested Howard did not support public education.

In a later statement to FortBendNow, Howard said he had not intended to insult trustees, but his goal in representing constituents was to see their property tax burden lowered. Howard also said he was addressing the board as a resident and taxpayer, and not in his role as a state representative.

In her statement, Bhuchar cited Howard’s remarks. She defended the board’s decision to raise the debt service tax rate, saying that voters approved the increase as a part of last year’s bond referendum.

Bhuchar also called on residents to pressure state legislators like Howard to find a solution to school funding problems.

Here is the complete text of Bhuchar’s statement:

“Our school board has worked hard over the past two years to establish a working environment of civility, cooperation, and respect. I am very appreciative and proud of the collaborative relationships we have fostered with our cities and county governments. However, there comes a time when certain information is so egregiously incorrect that the record must be set straight.

“At the Aug. 25 board meeting, the district approved its 2008-`09 operating and debt service budgets, preceded by a public hearing to report on the proposed district budget and proposed tax rate. Prior to the hearing, the district held a series of budget workshops over the last three months, which were open to the public, where facts and options were reviewed, discussed and deliberated upon at length.

“I believe the district has done a good job of providing the public with accurate information about the budget process and how we arrived at the budgets and tax rates that were approved. Texas school finance, as crafted by the legislature, is very complex, and the legislators who vote on these laws need to be knowledgeable.

“State Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, spoke at the hearing to express his disappointment in what was being proposed. Here is an excerpt from Rep. Howard’s comments to the Board regarding the proposed tax rate and budget:

“’You are intending to at least propose to increase the tax rate by 2 cents. I do not have the figures for what the certified property tax rolls are increased, but I would assume they are somewhere greater than 7%.

“’So that means that you are increasing your budget by 10 percent where as the appraised values only go up 7%, the amount of your student enrollment went up 2%, inflation last year went up 3%; so, you add those two, that’s 5%.

“’So you have 5% actual cost supposedly going up and you have an increase in your budget of 10%; so, if you think in terms of an effective tax rate, you would be lowering your tax rate and not raising your tax rate.”

“FBISD’s operating budget only increased by 2.75% for the 2008-`09 school year and I want our taxpayers to know that the district is not raising the $1.04 maintenance and operations (M&O) portion of the tax rate. That is exactly what the state’s funding formula allows without a district having to call for a roll back election.

“The district is raising, by two cents, our debt service portion of the tax rate to $0.23 from $0.21. In Nov. 2007, voters authorized FBISD to raise the debt service tax rate by as much as $0.11 when the bond referendum was passed. The district borrows money to build new schools and those additional two cents will go directly toward repaying that loan.

“The district’s operating budget represents what we have to spend on the day to day running of the school district—much like a household budget for a family. Even with growth in enrollment, skyrocketing fuel and utility costs, general inflationary pressures, and the decision to award all district employees a 3% raise, as previously stated, FBISD’s operating budget is only increasing by 2.75% for the 2008-`09 school year.

“Unfortunately, because the state legislature has capped each school district’s revenue per student very near the 2005-`06 levels, FBISD’s operating revenue is only projected to increase by 0.07% for the 2008-‘09 school year.

“When homeowners see their tax bills increase as a result of rising appraisal values, they naturally assume that school districts benefit from those additional funds. That is not the case. Because our revenue has been capped by the state, that increase in local property tax revenue is directly offset by an equal reduction in state funding. It is as if those funds flow right past the school district and into to the state’s $15 billion surplus account.

“School districts and taxpayers all over the state are facing tough decisions. Roughly 20 percent of the 1,037 districts statewide will be asking voters later this year to approve tax increases for their operating budgets in order to give their employees a raise and meet rising costs. FBISD is not one of those districts.

“All of us as taxpayers need to speak to our state representatives, and ask them to address real solutions during the next Legislative session that will ease the local tax burden on our property owners. In the last three years, state support of FBISD has dropped from 58.84% of our budget to 46.73 % of our budget while amassing that $15 billion surplus. Public education is a partnership where each of the partners pulls their weight equally. I believe it is time for the state to once again be an equal partner in funding public education in the interest of children.”

Bhuchar’s statement was released Friday afternoon through the school district’s communications office.

Bhuchar has not responded to a request for further comment.