Fort Worth schools are sending more than $2 million to state under ‘Robin Hood’

The Fort Worth school district is planning to send more than $2 million in local tax dollars to the state for the first time this year, according to estimates presented at a recent board hearing.

The process is part of the state’s “Robin Hood” school finance system in which the state takes money from districts in areas with high property values and redistributes it to those in areas with low property values. The taxable value in the district increased by about 10% this year, pushing the district into this category for the first time.

Other districts, including Arlington, are nearing the threshold and could end up owing money later in the year, according to the Texas School Coalition, which represents Robin Hood districts. Those that were already paying, like Grapevine-Colleyvile, are seeing increases.

That district is projecting a payment of $57.6 Million for the 2022-2023 school year — up $3 million from last year.

School leaders, including Angelica Ramsey, the lone finalist for Fort Worth superintendent, have criticized the mechanism, which funds roughly 6% of the state’s $52 billion school system.

The money is leaving the district as continued declines in enrollment threaten to decrease the amount of funding the district receives from the state.

The 1990s law was born out of court cases challenging the fairness of the system without Robin Hood. Chandra Villanueva, economic opportunity coordinator for the Austin-based think tank Every Texan, said that without Robin Hood, districts in areas without high property values would have even less to work with.

“People start blaming [Robin Hood] when they don’t have enough resources, because they’re sending money back to the state when their needs aren’t being met fully yet at home. But that’s not because of [Robin Hood],” she said. “It is because the formulas are inadequately funding our schools.”

“[Robin Hood] itself is not a disadvantage to any district,” she said. “It is just an equity tool.”

Where are Robin Hood payments going?

As more schools enter into Robin Hood, school officials are questioning where the extra funding ends up, as the state is expected to bring in a record $3 billion from local school districts.

The Lewisville school district, which paid $59.4 million, is watching enrollment and property values to see how much it pay next year.

Lewisville CFO Paige Meloni said Robin Hood payments make up $3.4 billion of the state’s $27 billion surplus.

“And unfortunately, that 3.4 billion in surplus doesn’t find its way back into the school system,” Meloni said.

Christy Rome, the executive director of the Texas School Coalition, said the basic allotment formula would need to be updated for schools to get more funding.

“We don’t have quite the level of transparency at the state level that taxpayers might like,” she said. “So that savings that is generated goes into the state’s general fund and then it’s really impossible to trace where dollars in the general fund go, because it kind of becomes a black hole, where all the different billions end up.”

She added: “More is collected, but there’s not more being spent on schools, it just results in the state spending less.”

Another place Robin Hood dollars could end up? Charter schools, which are funded 100% by the state.

The presence of charters is growing across the state, including in Fort Worth.

Districts are calling for reform.

“While state coffers are overflowing with surpluses, Texas school districts have real and growing needs,” Plano Superintendent Theresa Williams said. “Right now, as property values push tax payments higher, the state is reducing the amount of money that it invests in public education. Additional state investments in public education would help slow the growth of recapture and benefit all schools.”