A Reinterpretation of the State's 'Robin Hood' Law Could Cost Texas $100 Million

[TexasTowelie]

Some school districts in Texas with high property values could see more money this fiscal year after the Texas Education Agency decided in a sudden move to change how it interprets a complicated aspect of the state’s school finance system.

The change involves two aspects of school finance: Robin Hood, or recapture, and something called the optional homestead exemption.

Recapture is the system that requires wealthy school districts to send some property taxes back to the state to help fund poor districts. The second aspect is the local optional homestead exemption. While all Texas school districts must provide a $25,000 homestead exemption for homeowners, districts also have the option to give homeowners a 20 percent deduction on their taxable property value.

When calculating how much money wealthy districts must give back to the state, the TEA based the amount on 100 percent of home property values in that district. But when a district utilizes the 20 percent optional homestead exemption, homeowners aren’t paying taxes on 100 percent of that home’s value.

Read more: http://kut.org/post/reinterpretation-states-robin-hood-law-could-cost-texas-100-million

[metroins]

1. Thank you for this

I posted it in my neighborhood Facebook page.