Rural Texas School District Loses Bid for More State Tax Dollars

The school district for one of the most sparsely populated counties in the US failed to convince a Texas appeals court to reject the comptroller’s plan to increase property tax values there.

Increased property appraisals mean more local tax revenue for the school district, but less money from the state under its policy of redistributing school funding. The divided Texas 15th Court of Appeals decision Thursday cuts in half the funding Kenedy County’s school district receives from the state.

“This is a case of first impression” construing the 30-year-old statute that requires the state comptroller to “appropriately adjust” property values ...