Professors, experts weigh in on Constitutional amendment propositions relating to education | CPT PPP Coverage

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Denton citizens will be voting alongside other Texans for 14 new propositions for Texas Constitution amendments at early voting centers starting Oct. 23, with three of them concerning education.

On Aug. 4, Deputy Secretary Joe Esparza compiled the Constitutional amendment ballot order proposing laws addressing financial distribution of funds and the infrastructure of the state. Propositions Four, Five and Nine propose alterations to property taxes from public school maintenance costs, the creation of a higher education revenue source called the Texas University Fund and improvements to annuitants for the Texas Retirement System. With these motions underway, the Denton Vote Group has been instructing students on voter registration and the terminology of the propositions.

“We do tell people that the wording of the amendments on the ballot, which is a brief summary and in the full text of the proposed amendments, is often convoluted and obscure legalese that is difficult to understand,” Denton Vote Group co-founder Mike Yager said.

Proposition Four proposes increasing exemptions on property taxes while simultaneously having the state pay schools to lower their property taxes. The  reduction of property taxes  for public schools would help lower the rates of taxes for  homeowners. The Texas Legislative Council analyzed the arguments of this bill and to the council this does not go far enough in eliminating property taxes in the state and could jeopardize funding for public schooling.

“I find this to be an interesting argument because governments have to have funding to do what they are supposed to do,” said Gloria Cox, department of political science associate professor and associate chair. “It bothers me to hear state officials talk about decreasing property taxes because we do not have an income tax. In a state without an income tax there has to be some way for the government to get money, so I don’t know if this method will work.”

Proposition Five replaces the National Research University Fund with the Texas University Fund, which provides funding of four Texas universities — Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, University of Houston and the Texas State University. This would provide funding for research within these universities. The bill would exclude other universities from research funding but would increase accessible revenue to these four university systems, who have been advocating for increased funding for the last couple of years.

“The University of Texas and Texas A&M get gobs and gobs of money from a permanent university fund but other universities don’t so there is this funding inequality in the state of Texas,” said Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, university professor and political scientist. “This particular fund is sort of a compromise to put more money in these universities to increase their prominence.”

Proposition Nine provides a cost of living adjustment for those under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Under this proposition, retired teachers would receive a cost of living as no retirement fund is included in their social security.

“Whether its social security or pensions plans, it loses its value if there is not a cost of living embedded in it, and in this case the TRS has not had a cost of living adjustment,” Eshbaugh-Soha said. “So the question to voters is do Texas teachers deserve a pension plan that keeps up with inflation.”

The Texas Constitution is one of the largest and lengthiest state constitutions in the U.S., with over 500  amendments. These bills need the favor of two-thirds of each house and a majority vote by Texas citizens to be officially added to the state constitution. Within the past decade, many amendments have had high adoption rates into the constitution.

“This is one of the longest constitutions and the reason for that is because certain types of changes to the Texas law have to be added to the constitution,” Eshbaugh-Soha said. “The way that works is instead of going to governor they are given to the legislature to be placed on the ballot,” Eshbaugh-Soha said.