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The 374 Revenue-Contributing School Districts in Texas – through their local taxpayers – play a vital role in improving the quality of education for all schoolchildren in the state.

Designated as Chapter 41 districts in the Texas Education Code, these Revenue-Contributing School have added $16 billion to the state public education budget since 1993, with many districts giving up more than 50 percent of their locally raised tax money.

In the 2012-13 school year, state lawmakers and the Texas Education Agency are counting on local taxpayers in the relatively small number of Revenue-Contributing Schools to put another $1,122,372,500 into the school finance system.

How Much is Enough?

The number of Revenue-Contributing School Districts is rising at an increasingly rapid pace, more than doubling in the four years since 2007 when there were 164. It took 15 years to reach 164 Revenue-Contributing Districts, but only five years to add the next 210 Districts. This intensifying upward spiral has the potential to imperil the entire school finance system as more and more taxpayers have less incentive to locally raise new tax revenue for the state

Fore example, 38 Revenue-Contributing School Districts have added more than $100 million each to the statewide system, with some contributing more than $1 billion each. And, 53 Revenue-Contributing School Districts are remitting from 50 percent to as much as 88 percent of their local tax revenue to the state. These taxpayers are asking, How much is enough?

Then and Now: How Times Have Changed

Since 1993, when the Texas Legislature approved the system that relies on Revenue-Contributing Schools to make the education finance system successful, it has grown steady to encompass more districts, more students and more revenue.

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