How often does the letter s occur in:
How Texas schools are currently funded
Roughly 13 percent of Texas 1,037 school districts are required by law to share their property tax revenue with less fortunate districts under the current school finance system.
The difference between wealthy and poor districts, as defined by state law, lies in how much a district can raise in property tax compared with its average daily student attendance, adjusted to account for certain cost variations.
The tipping point in the calculation is $305,000 per student. Schools that exceed that wealth per student give money back to the state or partner with a poor district. Poorer districts receive money under the system. Some districts, called gap districts, dont have enough wealth to give money back, but dont receive Robin Hood money, either.
For example, all the taxable property in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, just north of Dallas, the per student property value is about $419,787, according to figures provided last school year. That pushed the district into the wealthy category.
Property-rich districts have several options for reducing their wealth level to the state limit. One option basically involves writing a check to the state to lower the districts balance to the legal limit.
Property-rich districts that want more control over where their money goes can contract to educate students in poor districts. For example, Carrollton-Farmers Branch partnered with the Roma Independent School District along the U.S.-Mexico border for the 2003-2004 school year.
user
I counted seventy-seven "s"s in that text.
assistant