After a one-year hiatus, the Boerne Independent School District is back into recapture status and may end up paying the state as much as $7.5 million this year.
Information shared during the August trustees meeting and from Chief Financial Officer Wes Scott revealed BISD taxable property values increased 23 percent versus the prior year. Combining that with the state’s school funding formula that allots Boerne $6,160 per student determines recapture status. The process is also called “Robin Hood.”
Recapture, or “Robin Hood, is triggered when a district collects more property tax revenue per student than the state allows it to have. Boerne ISD is considered a “property wealthy” school district, so the funds are taken from it by the state and deposited in the state’s general fund. The intent of recapture is to help all school districts have roughly similar amounts of money to spend per child.
“Recapture occurs when the revenue generated by the property values exceeds the formula-driven allotment,” Scott told The Star. “The district was close to paying recapture in 2021-22 and crossed the recapture line in 2022-23 where the increase in property values far exceeded the offsetting increase in allotment.”
Last year’s no recapture payment was the first time in at least 15 years BISD did not have to pay any.
The school funding formula starts with student attendance and various characteristics of the student that might affect funding, Scott said, adding those factors determine the district’s entitlement, or allotment, at $6,160 per student plus any allocations for any special characteristics. Under the formula, the higher the enrollment, the lower the recapture payment, but Scott said BISD’s student population would have to be 12,400 “to eliminate recapture.”
“That is significantly beyond the higher estimate provided by our demographer and unlikely to occur based on enrollment in the first week of school,” Scott said.
As of last week, BISD’s enrollment was at 10,723, which is 322 students higher at the end of the 2021-22 academic year.
The recapture money is taken out of the district’s budget, which was set earlier this year at $99.52 million for the current school year. District trustees will set the official tax rate in September.
During the board meeting, Superintendent Tom Price said the latest prediction is $7.5 million in recapture to the state. When the board passed the budget, the estimated figure was $5.7 million. The estimated recapture payment for BISD will fluctuate throughout the academic year based on a variety of factors.
“We just have to send that money back (to the state),” Price said, adding BISD has lowered its tax levy by 18 cents over the past seven years in an effort to fight the recapture amount.
“We’re not allowed to lower our tax rate any further,” Trustee Joe Tidwell said. “With higher appraisals come higher taxes – and we have to give it to the state.”
Information from the district showed it has paid more than $115 million to the state in recapture funds over the past 15 years.
“Having to spend over $115 million to the state over the past 15-plus years has limited Boerne ISD from a budgetary perspective,” Communications Director Bryan Benway told The Star. These were dollars that we were unable to spend on important items that benefit our students, teachers and staff.
“We have done our absolute best to work with what we have in the budget, but it has not been easy. We have always been extremely fiscally responsible with taxpayer money, and we will continue to do so.”
Benway also said a majority of the increase in funds generated from the higher appraisal values coupled with the tax rate will go to the state under recapture.
“Unfortunately, our teachers and students are impacted the most,” he said, emphasizing the recapture funds taken from the budget to give to the state means there is that much less money to fund and enhance student learning, “whether it is supplies, adding new programs or other important learning tools.”
House Bill 3 was a sweeping school finance bill passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019 and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. The bill provided more money for Texas classrooms, increased teacher compensation, reduced recapture and cut local property taxes for Texas taxpayers.
Its impact on BISD was that for the first time in 15 years, the district did not have to pay any recapture to the state in 2019-20, which allowed locally paid taxes to remain local. The bill also allowed BISD to lower its tax levy.
“The only way that Boerne ISD will find relief in the current recapture system is if the Texas Legislature increases the per-student allotment, as well as lowers the current tax rate floor,” Scott said. “Our board and Dr. Price have already begun discussing these critical needs with our legislators. The legislature must act in order to provide BISD recapture relief.”
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