Why is AISD shrinking? (Austin, Crockett: transfer to, public schools, colleges)

[Ice_Major]

Originally Posted by Austin97

it doesnt matter which method you choose, rich areas will pay for poor areas

property tax, income tax, or sales tax it will all be similar.

At the same time AISD has lost around 10000 students in the last 10 years which represents about 100 million of funding.

I understand. I went to a public school out of state, but a similar process. Schools should be on equal or as close to equal footing in terms of funding. My only complaint are the people who refuse to acknowledge they are in fact getting a form of a "hand out."

With more districts in conservative leaning areas having to pay into system (such as Midland and Plano) I wonder how much longer before they tweak the system. Now that more are sharing the pain something is going to have to give.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Austin97

it doesnt matter which method you choose, rich areas will pay for poor areas

property tax, income tax, or sales tax it will all be similar.

At the same time AISD has lost around 10000 students in the last 10 years which represents about 100 million of funding.

It does matter to a notable extent - state level funding is more location (and income) blind than property tax. When funded at the state level, it will come from natural resource revenues, corporate taxes, and sales taxes primarily. State sales tax percent is flat across the state (although the base cost of the goods will vary) and natural resource and/or corporate tax is independent of any one individual's income. Yes, presumably the same amount of money will get paid out in the end, but if a smaller percent of the financing is property tax - which is HEAVILY skewed urban - then the other sources of tax revenues would be more equitably collected.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

It does matter to a notable extent - state level funding is more location (and income) blind than property tax. When funded at the state level, it will come from natural resource revenues, corporate taxes, and sales taxes primarily. State sales tax percent is flat across the state (although the base cost of the goods will vary) and natural resource and/or corporate tax is independent of any one individual's income. Yes, presumably the same amount of money will get paid out in the end, but if a smaller percent of the financing is property tax - which is HEAVILY skewed urban - then the other sources of tax revenues would be more equitably collected.

qualitatively I get what you are saying, but quantitatively Im skeptical until I see actual data

Urban areas have a lot more businesses as well
Sales tax is regressive, but wealthier areas will spend more
income is generally going to be a ratio of income to median price of house - I looked and couldnt find variance by county. But income tax is not constitutional in tx anyway.

[done working]

throwing more money is not the answer - being low income has nothing to do with it -

until the PARENTS demand that their kids need to learn how to read, write, spell and add nothing is going to change. The future of Texas is at stake - we dont need more dishwashers, hamburger flippers, gardners or similar unskilled labor - Texas is growing with high tech jobs and we need young adults to fill those positions or guess what - we will find more and more immigrants from india, china, etc taking those jobs

the parents need to teach and expect their kids to do better than they did - just like my dad who was a milkman taught me that eduction is important if you dont want to milk in bottles the rest of your life

thats nots the government responsibility be it the state or the feds - parents need to wake the hell up and teach, preach, implore, force, whatever they have to too get their kids to stay in school, learn and strive to be better. if not we are all doomed with generations of people holding their hand out and crying its not fair or you make to much or life to hard.

PARENTS WAKE THE HELL UP and school boards - SHOUT OUT LOUD - TEACHERS MAKE WAVES
do whatever you have too to get parents off their asses and stop being friends to their kids and be parents to their kids

[ScoPro]

You are correct.

[ashbeeigh]

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/...d-school-year/

This speaks broadly to the state of affairs of education in the Austin metro.

[Bentonite]

Originally Posted by done working

throwing more money is not the answer - being low income has nothing to do with it -

until the PARENTS demand that their kids need to learn how to read, write, spell and add nothing is going to change. The future of Texas is at stake - we dont need more dishwashers, hamburger flippers, gardners or similar unskilled labor - Texas is growing with high tech jobs and we need young adults to fill those positions or guess what - we will find more and more immigrants from india, china, etc taking those jobs

the parents need to teach and expect their kids to do better than they did - just like my dad who was a milkman taught me that eduction is important if you dont want to milk in bottles the rest of your life

thats nots the government responsibility be it the state or the feds - parents need to wake the hell up and teach, preach, implore, force, whatever they have to too get their kids to stay in school, learn and strive to be better. if not we are all doomed with generations of people holding their hand out and crying its not fair or you make to much or life to hard.

PARENTS WAKE THE HELL UP and school boards - SHOUT OUT LOUD - TEACHERS MAKE WAVES
do whatever you have too to get parents off their asses and stop being friends to their kids and be parents to their kids

Gobsmackingly good post with logic, common sense, and sound judgement. Thank you!

[ultright]

Originally Posted by cheeva

The district anticipates that there will be 3000 less kids this fall compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Everyone who can is homeschooling their kids.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Dialgatime321

Simple. Birth rates. American birth rates dropped precipitously after 2008, but were higher between 1990-2007. The US birth rate was actually replacement level in 2007, when it has generally hung below replacement level since 1972. The last few classes of kids born before 2008 are graduating, being replaced by kids born in, what, 2016? Classes will only shrink from here.

Recently, people have moved to Austin with their families, but frankly, progressive, yuppy native Austinites have VERY few kids, even fewer than the nation as a whole, even if the birth rate appears inflated because families who already have young children tend to move here. But people who already have been in Austin for generations have very few or no children (often none), and as Austin becomes more cosmopolitan, built-up, dense, and progressive, and less suburban in the center, birth rates will only go even lower.

It is interesting how people make up theories to support what they want to believe, then state them as the truth. National level statistics have nothing to do with localities. Even the county level data can be different than what is happening in the city (e.g. flight to the suburbs). Even specific school chains will differ. West side schools are packed while east side schools are underenrolled.

In the 2020 census, 19.1% of the austin population was under 18 (183000)

In the 2010 census 15% of the austin population was under 18 (117000).

During that time, AISD enrollment dropped about about 12K

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

It does matter to a notable extent - state level funding is more location (and income) blind than property tax. When funded at the state level, it will come from natural resource revenues, corporate taxes, and sales taxes primarily. State sales tax percent is flat across the state (although the base cost of the goods will vary) and natural resource and/or corporate tax is independent of any one individual's income. Yes, presumably the same amount of money will get paid out in the end, but if a smaller percent of the financing is property tax - which is HEAVILY skewed urban - then the other sources of tax revenues would be more equitably collected.

Another way of saying what you are saying is that the tax system is too progressive. You essentially want to shift taxes back to the poor people. Right now wealthy people are paying more into the system. That is what the system was intended to do.

What I love about property tax is it is completely in your face. Income tax is a lot more insidious. You pay each pay period and learn to live without the money. At the moment austin pays a minimum of 1% property tax. We are allocated the same as everyone else on a per student basis (slightly adjusted for COL). The city of austin grew by roughly 70K under-18 residents, at the same time AISD decreased by 12K students. Ultimately the problem is AISD education policies have failed.

FISCAL 2021
All Funds Monthly Collections
(amounts in thousands)
Totals may not add due to rounding.
Total
Tax Collections
Sales Taxes* 36,019,605
Motor Vehicle Sales and Rental Taxes 5,730,934
Motor Fuel Taxes 3,596,892
Franchise Tax 4,529,830
Oil Production Tax 3,449,132
Insurance Taxes 2,699,643
Cigarette and Tobacco Taxes 1,397,304
Natural Gas Production Tax 1,568,542
Alcoholic Beverages Taxes 1,257,444
Hotel Occupancy Tax 487,815
Utility Taxes 538,815
Other Taxes 197,529

Total Tax Collections $61,473,483

Revenue By Source
Tax Collections 61,473,483
Federal Income 81,940,096
Licenses, Fees, Fines, and Penalties 6,346,921
State Health Service Fees and Rebates 6,794,088
Net Lottery Proceeds 2,954,627
Land Income 2,147,842
Interest and Investment Income 1,975,496
Settlements of Claims 761,239
Escheated Estates 792,564
Sales of Goods and Services 321,237
Other Revenue 4,988,858

Total Net Revenue $170,496,451

AISD just announced equity for disciplinary outcomes. That means that each race should have an equal number of incidents per student. This is going to make it harder for teachers and administrators to discipline students which mainly hurts the good students and makes the education worse. Alternately maybe they will increase the number of disciplinary actions against asians and whites.

The data highlighted the disproportionate rate of disciplinary action against African American and special education students compared to the rest of the student population. As of February, African American students made up 19% of students who received disciplinary actions—defined as in-school or home school suspensions for full or partial school days, and discretionary removals to the district’s Alternative Learning Center—despite being 6.3% of AISD’s student population. Special education students were involved in 32% of disciplinary action incidents. They represent 13% of AISD students.

The district is working to decrease these disparities to zero by August 2026. Campuses with disproportionate disciplinary action data will be required to create an action plan to foster equitable outcomes for African American and special education students. AISD's Central Discipline Office will work with the schools to provide individualized support on a campuswide and classroom-specific level.

Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde emphasized the importance of moving away from a zero-tolerance policy toward disorderly conduct to lower rates of disciplinary actions in the district.