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Many doubt the Legislature will fix school funding in '05
May 11, 2005

A new Texas Poll finds tax increases are also expected

Written by JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle

News305

AUSTIN - Texans have little confidence in the Legislature passing a school finance plan by the end of the session May 30, and 63 percent said in a new poll that they expect to pay more in overall taxes if a plan does pass.

The Scripps Howard Texas Poll also found that support for the current "Robin Hood" school finance system is at its highest ever. Sixty percent agreed that the state should equalize school funding by requiring property-wealthy districts to share their money with property-poor districts. Thirty-five percent disagreed with "Robin Hood" and 5 percent had no opinion.

Respondents who identified themselves as Democrats were much more likely to favor "Robin Hood," with 77 percent agreeing with the system and 17 percent disagreeing. Republicans were about evenly split, with 48 percent agreeing and 47 percent disagreeing.

Seventy percent of Texans are not very or not at all confident that lawmakers can agree on a plan by the end of the regular session. And only 44 percent were very or somewhat confident that any plan would be better than the current system.

Sixty percent said their property taxes are too high — a six point increase from February. Thirty-eight percent said they are just right and only 1 percent said they are too low.

Lawmakers are trying to cut property taxes but must raise other taxes to make up the billions in revenue that would be lost to public schools.

If the Legislature does pass a new school finance plan, 63 percent of respondents said they expect to pay more taxes overall, 9 percent said they'd pay less and 23 percent said their overall taxes would remain the same. Five percent said they didn't know.

There was strong opposition to raising the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 7.25 percent, planned in a tax bill passed by the House in March. Fifty-seven percent were opposed and 37 percent were in favor.

The poll surveyed 1,000 adult Texans by telephone April 14 to May 4. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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