BACKGROUND: Starting September 1, 2002, state funding for local school districts is going to go up for every district in the state. Much of the additional money--but not all--will cover the increased expenditures for health insurance required by the 2001 legislature in House Bill 3343.

House Bill 3343 requires that at least 25 percent of the total new aid to each school district for the 2002-2003 school year must be flexible. That is, districts are not required to spend it on health-coverage-related expenses.

For some districts, the amount of such flexible aid will be substantially more than 25 percent of total new aid for the coming school year. How the money will be spent is up to local school boards. They are free to spend the flexible money on better pay and/or benefits, if they so choose.

Below you will find the amount of such flexible money that your district could dedicate to pay/benefits for the coming school year, in addition to the state-mandated and state-funded expenditures for health insurance.

These data come from projections published by the Legislative Budget Board on May 24, 2001. These data remain the best available picture of the gains in state funding provided by House Bill 3343. The data reflect increases in the state's funding formula for fiscal year 2003 to provide a guaranteed yield of $27.14 and an equalized wealth level of $305,000. (The data do not include additional state aid flowing through other legislation for specific purposes such as new facilities construction, grants for particular education programs such as the reading initiative, etc.)

A SAMPLE OF DISTRICT-BY-DISTRICT DATA ON "FLEXIBLE-USE" STATE AID FOR 2002-2003

Abilene ISD Aldine ISD Amarillo ISD Austin ISD Bastrop ISD Brazosport ISD Brownsville ISD Calallen ISD Corpus Christi ISD Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Dallas ISD (San Felipe-)Del Rio ISD El Paso ISD Flour Bluff ISD Fort Bend ISD Goose Creek ISD Grand Prairie ISD (Gregory-)Portland ISD Harlandale ISD/Bexar Houston ISD Judson ISD/Bexar Killeen ISD La Joya ISD Laredo ISD McAllen ISD Midland ISD North East ISD/Bexar North Forest ISD Northside ISD/Bexar Pflugerville ISD Round Rock ISD San Antonio ISD/Bexar South San ISD/Bexar Southside ISD/Bexar Victoria ISD Weslaco ISD West Oso ISD Ysleta ISD

$858,863 $2,615,116 $1,415,587 $15,055,439 $381,676 $2,306,520 $1,698,543 $185,771 $1,722,348 $5,037,309 $1,527,412 $400,050 $3,148,409 $229,427 $4,589,361 $1,745,980 $1,041,342 $205,543 $692,269 $17,348,325 $1,089,188 $1,118,365 $1,437,337 $670,921 $1,100,262 $1,090,037 $3,885,106 $497,136 $3,115,926 $616,940 $920,839 $3,508,230 $467,628 $188,452 $606,085 $635,455 $99,197 $1,839,412