A West Texas school district has opened a new court fight over recapture, the part of Texas school finance known as "Robin Hood" that makes districts with high property wealth send some of their local tax money back to the state.
This week Midland ISD trustees voted to take Education Commissioner Mike Morath and other state officials to court, The Texas Tribune reported. Texas courts upheld recapture as constitutional in 1995, 2005 and 2016.
How the system works
Lawmakers created recapture in 1993 after Edgewood ISD, a largely Hispanic, low-income district, joined dozens of other poorly funded districts in suing over wide gaps in what their students received compared with students in wealthier areas.
When a district's local property taxes bring in more than its state-set need, it must hand over the difference, and the state sends that money to districts that cannot raise as much on their own.
The amounts have grown with property values. In 2024-25, the latest year with final figures, 225 districts returned close to $3 billion, according to Texas Education Agency data cited by the Tribune, about double the $1.4 billion of a decade earlier. Austin ISD paid more than $770 million, the most in the state, and Midland ISD paid $92.4 million, sixth highest.
Midland's argument
According to a draft of its filing, Midland ISD expects to pay more than $83 million this school year, 27% of the $313 million it raises locally. Its trustees argue that changes to school finance since 2019 have shifted tax-setting power from local boards to the commissioner, and that state spending requirements limit how they can meet local needs.
They also point out that about 55% of their students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, arguing that property wealth does not mean a district's students are well off.
Defenders of recapture worry that without it, property-wealthy districts would have far more to spend per student than districts with low property values. Some public education advocates told the Tribune the bigger problem is unsteady state funding, noting that before the 2025 legislative session, schools went six years without more money in the funding stream they use for teacher raises and day-to-day costs.
The suit comes as Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders push to eliminate school property taxes, an idea finance experts have warned would be costly. Midland ISD will be represented by Kevin O'Hanlon, who represented the attorney general's office in Edgewood v. Kirby, and Kara Belew, a former budget director for Abbott.
Sources
newsfromthestates.com
