A Microsoft Word version of this letter is available for download and PRINTING.

DATE: February 4, 2008

SUBJECT: 2007-08 Revised Summary of Finances

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

A revised Summary of Finances (SOF) and other related reports for the 2007–2008 school year have been posted to the School Finance website of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) at www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/. A summary of relevant information about the data updates in these reports, including planned future updates, is provided below:

Property Value Updates:

• 2006 CPTD Value – The property value being used to compute your district's state aid was certified by the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division (CPTD) on December 12, 2007. The value has been revised to reflect the implementation of House Bill 5, which provided a tax reduction on frozen levies. The value has been reduced to generate additional state funding to make up for the loss of local tax revenue. This value has been updated in both the LPE and DPE columns. The TEA will be developing a supplemental report that illustrates the impact of the property value reduction and the resulting change in state aid.
• 2007 Local Values – The TEA will use the local property values reported by the CPTD to calculate tax collections for those districts that did not report collections to the TEA on the Tax Information Survey last fall.

Tax Rate Updates – The TEA has worked together with the comptroller’s office to determine the tax rates adopted by school districts for the 2007–08 school year. These rates have been incorporated into the state funding calculations.

Tax Collections Updates– This SOF report reflects the tax collections reported by school districts on the Tax Information Survey. If your district did not submit tax collections, the TEA has reestimated collections using the 2007 local values reported by the comptroller’s office, your district’s adopted tax rate, and your district’s average collection rate, in accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC), §42.2516(f). The next update of tax collections will occur when the budget information submitted by your district to the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) during the fall of 2007 becomes available for use during the spring of 2008.

Adjustments for Lease Purchase – If your district was awarded an Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) for a lease-purchase agreement, the district’s local share of the IFA allotment has been subtracted from the M&O tax collections estimate before the calculation of state aid.

Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) and Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) – If your district qualifies for EDA or IFA, the preliminary earned allotment appears on the first page of the SOF report under the “Additional Aid” heading. 2007–08 IFA payments have been processed. Settle-up amounts for 2006–07 have been incorporated into these payments. Detailed 2007–08 IFA payment reports are available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/sofweb7.html. Instructions for amending IFA-supported debt information can be found on the IFA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/facilities/ifa.html.

2007–08 EDA payments have been processed. The SOF reports include the “2007–2008 Calculation of Existing Debt Allotment” as well as the “Existing Debt Payment Report for School Year 2007–08.”  Detailed EDA eligible debt reports are available online at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/sofweb7.html. Instructions for correcting debt information can be found on the EDA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/facilities/eda.html.

Gain from Chapter 41 Partnership – If your district participated in a Chapter 41 partnership agreement during the 2005–06 school year, the gain information for all three funding scenarios (S1, S2, S3) has been updated to reflect amounts paid out as well as net gains.

State Aid Reduction for WADA Sold– The February SOF report reflects reductions in state funding for the attendance credits sold by a partner district to a Chapter 41 district. The adjustment is made by reducing state aid based on the number of credits for students in weighted average daily attendance (WADA) involved in the partnership arrangement.

State Compensatory Education– The information regarding the number of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch has been updated on page 3 of the SOF report. The TEA uses this information in the calculation of funding for the compensatory education allotment.

Amended Calculation of Revenue Target – Several changes have been made in the calculation of the revenue target as follows:

• Adjustment to Transportation Allotment  – Therevenue target has been adjusted to reflect thedifference between the current-year transportation allotment and the amount of the transportation allotment in the target year, based on the maximum of S1, S2, and S3.


• Adjustment for the New Instructional Facilities Allotment (NIFA) – The revenue target has been adjusted to reflect the difference between the current- year NIFA allotment generated and the NIFA allotment generated in the target year, based on the maximum of S1, S2, and S3.


• Adjustment for Ad Valorem Tax Credits (HB 828) – The revenue target will be adjusted to include any funds due to your district under the provisions of TEC, §42.2515, which provides additional state aid for ad valorem tax credits under the Texas Economic Development Act.

As always, the TEA strongly advises school districts to project state aid based on the best available information. Your district should complete the 2007–08 state aid template produced by the Education Service Center in Region XIII or an equivalent state aid estimation process. (The School Finance website provides a link to the ESC template on the website's "State Funding Worksheets Page" at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/index.html.) The greatest value of the SOF report is in explaining the basis of cash distributions to districts. Estimation of state aid earned can be significantly impacted by factors not known to the TEA and thus not reflected on the SOF reports produced by the State Funding Division. If you have any questions concerning these reports, please contact a state funding consultant at (512) 463-9238.

Sincerely,

Lisa Dawn-Fisher, Ph.D.
Deputy Associate Commissioner for School Finance