By Eric Dick
HCDE Trustee & Board VP
Senate Bill 646 eliminates Harris County Department of Education’s (HCDE) ability to collect a tax. Personally, I love the idea of lowering property taxes. If you live in Harris County you are more than familiar with your taxes increasing every year. Along with a sluggish economy due to the low oil prices, at some point, many of us feel that we will be taxed out of our homes.
Unfortunately, I’m certain that eliminating HCDE’s ability to tax will result in large increases in taxes from local school districts. Seriously, can you tell me with a straight face that HISD wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to significantly increase our taxes? I didn’t think so.
Many of us hear about HCDE and don’t understand what it does. We think that it is an unnecessary government entity that needs to go. Heck, I’ve been guilty of campaigning to abolish HCDE before I realized that what it does.
For instance, HCDE provides approximately 53{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the special education therapy services received by special needs students in Harris County Schools. HCDE even has four schools: Academic & Behavior School East, Academic & Behavior School West, Highpoint School East, and Highpoint School West. 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the students served at HCDE four campuses are at-risk students. Two of these schools serve students who have serious intellectual and developmental problems. The other two of these schools serve the most troubled and adjudicated youth. All in all, HCDE provides nearly services to nearly 140,000 students.
Now here is the beauty – because HCDE serves 24 out of 25 of the Harris County School Districts, it provides these specialized services at a lower cost than each school district could provide on its own. You know, economics of the scale. It also provides these necessary services at a reduced rate because it is tax subsidized.
I agree we all have been taxed enough already. I also believe that the fault of our high property taxes is due to our very corrupt public education system. If you wonder where our tax dollars go you should look at your tax bill. HISD charges $1.0267 per $100 of taxable value for tax years. Give them a chance. They would love to increase it to an even $1.05. Heck, they increased our taxes last year by $0.01 because they are bad with money.
HCDE charges a tax rate of $0.0052 per $100 of taxable value and has lowered its tax rate every single year since 2013. HCDE is a Republican controlled education entity. That is why it is one of the most efficient government agencies. Are we seriously going to take a gamble at messing up a working system for the illusion of $10 a year in property tax savings? Very foolish.
Many people say HCDE will shut down if you take away its ability to tax. Regardless of whether HCDE exists, you are guaranteeing an increase in the price of these services that Harris County School are required to provide. I can promise with 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} certainty that any increase in price will be felt by taxpayers. With HISD’s current Superintendent is saying, “Look at public education as an investment, not an expense,” you know that HISD will increase taxes far more than enough to cover any increase in costs.
Look, I don’t think HCDE is anywhere close to being perfect. I do believe that HCDE is an opportunity for Republicans to show Harris County residents that we do a better job with education. I also think that HCDE is an opportunity for Republicans to show our Christ-like compassion to disabled children.
During my tenure at HCDE, I will diligently push for it to be a part of School Choice to help fill in the gaps resulting from our failed public schools. I will lobby for HISD to be broken down into 5 to 8 smaller school districts. I encourage fellow Republicans to take off the blinders of wanting to abolish a Republican controlled government entity without embracing its consequences and envisioning our opportunity to end the corruption of a Democrat controlled HISD.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve residents of Harris County.
Eric Dick
Conservative Activist
HCDE Trustee & Board Vice President
The Texas Legislature needs to authorize a comprehensive bipartisan Sunset Review of HCDE and it’s practices to find the truth for all Harris County citizens including Trustee Dick.
Mike,
glad you posted the first comment.
right on, Sunset Review of the HCDE to find the truth. I worked many years as a substitute teacher. The school districts need to find qualified therapists for certain kids. Other are mainstreamed. I have had kids who were special Ed in my classroom only to find out later that a teacher aide was needed for me. But the kids told me there was supposed to be an aide. I taught that class without an aide. Lots of fun with ADH kids. Autistic kid were another fun group.
No aide, and I did it alone.
Mainstreaming is good for the special ed kid and all the other kids. Only an aide for helping the kid out.
Now kids that need behavioral adjustment…..special classroom like some schools I know.
This whole thing sounds like Dick is looking for a reason to keep his job, which he should be glad to lose.
252 of 254 counties have abolished so-called “county school districts”. The 253rd is facing bankruptcy after a disastrous investment of TAXPAYER dollars. We are indeed, as you (Eric) point out, taxed enough already (actually, taxed TOO MUCH already.) Get rid of the taxpayer subsidy. Let the free market decide if HCDE is “efficient” or not. It really is that simple.
Eric, You need to study the books. HCDE doesn’t use the property tax they collect to PROVIDE ” 53{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the special education therapy services received by special needs students in Harris County Schools.” HCDE CHARGES the school districts per-therapist-per-day for their service. So the taxpayers pay a tax to HCDE to hire HCDE’s bureaucrats who hire therapists and then pay again to the local school districts to USE the therapists. HCDE uses such a small amount of their property tax to supplement this service, that it averages only $39,600 per-district-per-year. No district will have to raise property taxes to cover such a small difference.
If you are truly going to represent the taxpayers, do your homework BEFORE you write. You didn’t even use the correct names for HCDE’s alternative schools. And you failed to mention that HCDE is closing one of their schools next year because of LACK of ENROLLMENT.
And please use actual numbers for the taxpayers. Don’t imply that HCDE uses the property tax they collect to educate 140,000 students daily. HCDE reported only 348 total students enrolled in their special schools on 12/12/16. And HCDE doesn’t use the property tax they collect to cover the cost of the schools. HCDE CHARGES the school districts TUITION of over $20,000 per-year-per-student to attend their AB schools. HCDE’s tax supplement to their schools amounts to less than $100,000 per-district-per-year. Again, no need for any tax increase by the district to cover the difference.
All this means that HISD taxpayers pay about $4 million in property taxes to HCDE every year and get back less than $150,000 in direct student services.
The only financial winners are all the six figure bureaucrats at HCDE who, by the way, will be supported by the State taxpayers for the rest of their lives through the Texas Teacher Retirement System.
There is no use of the HCDE that is worth keeping it.
Ms. Vera, your attacks on HCDE have indeed persisted over a course of 4 or 5 years. In that span of time HCDE has been audited numerous time by both governmental and private organizations, including the Texas Comptroller’s Office. and the esteemed Moak Casey firm, that is used by Texas governmental agencies to verify various concerns of the Texas Legislature. The Moak Casey firm was asked specifically to determine the cost saving derived by school districts directly due to HCDE services. That review confirmed that HCDE saves money for school districts in Harris County and that each $1 of taxes paid is leveraged by HCDE to services valued at between $4 and $6.
FACT: To date, NONE, not one of the issues you posture has been proven by ANY of these audits.
Having said that, I commend you. Your constant deluge of requests for public information that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars, has had the unintended consequences of making HCDE a more transparent entity.
Mr. Wolfe, you have successfully engaged 4 people to run for and secure positions on the board of trustees for HCDE by misleading them to believe your rhetoric. All four have joined the board believing HCDE to be duplicative in its services and corrupt in its operations. All four served only a short time before realizing they had been deceived. Eric Dick is the latest, after understanding the purpose of HCDE, to conclude it has great value to the students of Harris County..
As to Mark’s comments above, your blanket statement is misleading because there are so many comparatives to consider. What services were being provided by those other counties and what services are being provided today by other entities. You have to compare county to county and then see if HCDE is doing a better job of utilizing taxes.
Having spent 23 years studying and providing oversight to HCDE as a board member, my sincere opinion is that HCDE should be a model for other counties to immolate because of the cost savings realized by ISDs. Most counties would benefit from the economies of scale alone. I am fully aware that HCDE is not perfect, and I am equally aware that perfect does not exist in any organizational operation. However, HCDE has been proven to operate effectively and efficiently.
I belief that the attempts to close HCDE are not about saving property taxes, Please bare in mind that the tax saving to the average household would be less than $15 PER YEAR. Surely there are other entities charging much more in property taxes that should be scrutinized. No this is not about saving taxes, it is about political agendas and furthering the personal political aspirations of a few people. Some who believe the general public will see the closing of HCDE as an accomplishment that will gain favor in winning a seat for higher office.
Don’t be mislead, HCDE is a valuable asset to our students and is saving money for taxpayers of Harris County.
So, you speak in favor of HCDE, then say that other counties should “immolate” it, or burn it up. Which is it?
Most counties would not benefit from the economies of scale, because most counties are too small to need the services of an HCDE type entity. Most Texas counties have small populations.
“Let the free market decide” doesn’t work when there are federal mandates for services. There are over 100,000 students who receive services that start with the HCDE. As someone who has spent over a decade as a teacher, I promise the ISDs around Harris County aren’t flush with money. If anyone’s having the bank broken by $10/year to the HCDE, they’ve got bigger issues since their county and school taxes are thousands a year.