Voters approve HISD Proposition 1

HOUSTON – HISD voters approved proposition 1 Saturday to make Recapture payment to state.

Houston Independent School District officials said they will work with the Texas Legislature on school finances after voters approval by writing a check to the state using local property tax dollars.

This was a surprising turn as voters initially voted against Proposition 1 in November, which followed with the Texas Education Agency to lower HISD's Recapture debt from $162 million to $77.5 million.

“We want to thank our legislative delegation for supporting HISD and seeking changes to the funding formulas, and we want to thank the Texas Education Agency for significantly lowering our Recapture obligation this year,” said HISD Board of Education President Wanda Adams. “The board will continue to work with lawmakers to fix the broken school finance system, which impacts districts across the state. We look forward to seeing meaningful changes that ensure all Texas children are provided the resources they desperately need to succeed. We at HISD believe education is an investment, not an expense, and we hope the Legislature views it the same way.”

Here’s a look at some issues voters had decided on.

HISD’s Robin Hood tax bill

The so-called Robin Hood Law requires that school districts that meet a certain threshold of property value pay the state money, which is then distributed to school districts with less tax revenue.

There are two methods of payment that HISD officials are considering. One calls for the district to purchase attendance credits by writing a check to the state for local property taxes. The other, known as “detachment,” calls for the district to remove the most valuable non-residential, commercial properties from its tax roll and assign them to the tax roll of other school districts.

Voters already answered this question during the November general election, rejecting the attendance credits method. However, school district leaders called for another election after recent changes by state leaders to the amount of recapture obligation assigned to HISD, reducing the bill from $162 million to $77.5 million.

A vote for the measure means HISD would purchase attendance credits, while a vote against the measure means HISD would pay the bill through detachment.

Click or tap here to view information HISD has assembled about the measure.

Election Results:

Harris County: Results

Fort Bend: Results

Waller County: Results

Brazoria County: Results

Chambers County: Results

Galveston County: Results

Montgomery County: Results