1984–1993
Senate Bill 7 and the Robin Hood system
Texas had no state income tax. When courts ruled school funding unconstitutional, lawmakers built a workaround: take excess local property tax from "wealthy" districts and redistribute it statewide.
| Event | Date | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Edgewood ISD v. Kirby | 1984–1989 | Texas Supreme Court ruled the system unconstitutional — four times. |
| Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) | 1993 | "Robin Hood" recapture signed as a transitional compromise. |
| Chapter 49 recapture | 1993–present | Property-wealthy districts send local revenue back to the state. |
The formula
Understanding WADA — weighted attendance
Texas does not fund students as whole people alone. It funds Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) — decimal multipliers tied to student categories.
| Student type | Weight | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| General education | 1.00 | Baseline unit (basic allotment × WADA) |
| Economically disadvantaged | 1.22 | Extra weight for qualifying students |
| Bilingual / ESL | 1.10 | Language support services |
| Special education | 1.15–5.0 | Scaled by intensity of need |
Multipliers only matter if the base dollar amount keeps pace with real costs.
Weights without a rising base leave districts solving the same gap every budget cycle.
Full timeline
How we got to 2026
Edgewood ISD v. Kirby — Courts find unequal funding unconstitutional under the Texas Constitution.
Senate Bill 7 — Recapture created as a remedy; described at the time as transitional.
Recapture expands. Austin's rising property values increase local collections — and state recapture bills — without matching per-student formula growth.
Basic allotment frozen at $6,160 across multiple legislative sessions despite wage, benefit, and operating cost inflation.
AISD projects a $181 million deficit. Staff reductions and library cuts land on local board agendas — while the state reports large surpluses.
Austin today
Manufactured scarcity — and libraries on the cut list
Austin ISD is labeled property-wealthy while nearly 48.4% of students are economically disadvantaged. Recapture sends hundreds of millions to the state each year. When the district must balance its budget, libraries and librarians — cornerstones of a child's education — appear on cut lists.
View the data sheet → · Share your library story → · Wealthy recapture briefing
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