In an interview with KRLD’s Scott Braddock in Dallas, Cypress-Fairbanks superintendent David Anthony called school funding cuts a “crisis” and said districts are in a “difficult situation” as they try to meet new student achievement measures while coping with cuts.
Schools are facing what could be $10 billion cut in funding — and an influx of new students. The Texas Education Agency is also set to roll out more rigorous testing standards at the end of the year.
“I would term that a crisis,” Anthony said.
The departing superintendent of the state’s third-largest school district also shared his views on the origins of the shortfall: the Legislature’s 2006 vote to cut property tax rates — resulting in a $14 billion reduction in revenue, Anthony said.
“There was a mechanism put in place to fund that which generated at best $9 billion so you’ve created a $5 billion per biennium structural deficit,” he said, “Over two biennia, then you’ve got $10 billion that wasn’t collected to buy down the property tax compression, as a result that’s what we’re being cut.”
Last week, Anthony announced his retirement from Cypress-Fairbanks to serve as CEO of Raise Your Hand Texas, an education advocacy group.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://trib.it/ggkpw2.
