The Aransas County school district is considered property rich under the state's funding formula, so it is required to ship a portion of its local property tax revenue to the state to be distributed to school districts considered property poor. The district’s so-called recapture payment is based on a series of outdated elements of the state’s funding formulas. At the same time, following the same formulas, the state has reduced its share of funding to the district. Moreover, being labeled property rich doesn’t mean the district’s students come from wealthy families. About 70 percent of the Aransas County district’s students qualify for the federal, free and reduced lunch program, but expensive vacation homes belonging to out-of-towners have driven up property values in the district. Saddled by an unwieldy recapture bill, the district, the largest employer in Rockport with 395 employees, has plans to reduce its staff by 25 positions next school year, on top of the 59 it has cut since 2017-18. The district also closed one of its campuses and sold the school building this year. Teachers who have had to rebuild their own lives haven’t seen a raise since 2015, even though neighboring districts pay as much as $10,000 more a year. Students still living in half-gutted homes are desperate for expanded mental health and social services, but, with every program subject to possible cuts, officials say they can't expand services. “We have a lot of issues still going on, and these kids are 100 percent our priority,” said Michaela Alston, an Aransas County school board member. “In order for them to be better out in the community, we need to give them everything they need here at school. If the state is robbing from us, we can’t do the job that we’re supposed to be doing.”

Plastic sheets direct rainwater to trash cans at Rockport-Fulton High School in Rockport. Hurricane Harvey damaged the school's roof and it still hasn't been repaired. Two hundred fifty computers were damaged during the storm and replaced. [ANA RAMIREZ/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

Seeking relief

Since becoming a property-wealthy district in 2004, the Aransas County school district has paid a total of $70 million in recapture money to the state. A district’s recapture payment is calculated according to how much local property revenue per student the district collects. The district’s $7 million recapture note has ballooned by $2 million this year because the state used pre-Harvey property values, 14 percent higher than they are now, and post-Harvey enrollment, which is 500 students fewer than before the storm, to calculate the district’s recapture payment. (The school finance system relies on a one-year lag on property tax values to allow districts and the state to better estimate the recapture payments.) The storm dropped local revenue by $4 million this year. Officials say they need relief now. “I know (lawmakers) are not going to waive the whole recapture payment. But don’t, at least in our case, add the $2 million to it. Make us pay what we paid prior to Harvey. That would be a blessing right there,” said Joey Patek, the Aransas County school superintendent.

The nearby Port Aransas school district is experiencing a similar phenomenon. It has lost just as much property tax revenue as Aransas County and is set to send 75 percent of its budget to the state as a recapture payment — $14 million. Additionally, the district, which suffered $16 million in damage, is still out $3 million as officials wait for reimbursement from the district's insurance company and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “When you come back on that Monday after the storm and you see the whole town is just a disaster, and … they’re still going to collect your property taxes and send 85 cents of every dollar (in local property tax revenue) to the state, it’s a hard pill to swallow. There has to be some mechanism in there for some immediate relief, some immediate recapture forgiveness,” said Sharon McKinney, superintendent of Port Aransas school district. For the first time ever, the Port Aransas district passed a deficit budget this year of $600,000. Port Aransas and Aransas County districts said if their recapture payments were lowered, they’d hire more staff and pay their teachers more. Holly Crosland, a fifth-grade science and social studies teacher in the Aransas County district, depleted her savings to pay for repairs after Harvey, just like many of her co-workers. One part of her roof was blown off, causing some water damage to the interior. A single mom of two, Crosland’s monthly paycheck is eaten up by her mortgage and bills. She has a master’s degree and has been teaching for 20 years, but she makes about $50,000 a year. Over the summers, she works alongside her teen daughter waiting tables at nearby restaurants to pad her salary. “I have been working two jobs for 3½ years. Our salary just does not cut it,” Crosland said. “I have had to stop contributing to my children’s college funds because I need to shift money. I’m so tired of looking at my budget every month. I have shifted every penny that there is to shift. There is nowhere else to go.” At the nearby Gregory-Portland school district, which was spared the brunt of the storm, teachers are paid as much as $8,000 more, Crosland said. In San Antonio, where she’s from, Crosland could earn as much as $15,000 more. “If I do not get a pay raise soon, I will have to move to a different school district that is somewhere nearby. It’s so frustrating because this is my home and these kids depend on me,” Crosland said through tears.

Bill Duck stands in what was his family's kitchen before Hurricane Harvey destroyed his home in Rockport. Duck and his family rode out the hurricane in La Grange and have lived in a trailer outside of their home since returning. [ANA RAMIREZ/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

'Policy lessons'

The state can reduce the recapture payment of disaster-struck school districts by the amount of money they spent out of pocket on disaster recovery (not covered by insurance or FEMA). But strings are attached. Only the amount spent on rebuilding “instructional facilities” can be applied to the recapture reductions, not what's spent on rebuilding bus barns or running tracks, for example. Furthermore, the reduction is only allowed for two years after the disaster. Almost all of Aransas County district’s damages — $55 million — were covered by insurance and FEMA. “There are some things the Legislature can certainly do to give relief to all recapture districts, but in particular looking at districts that have gone through a disaster like Hurricane Harvey, there are policy lessons to be learned,” said Christy Rome with the Texas School Coalition. State officials helped immediately after the storm by not reducing funding to school districts if enrollment dropped, which cost the state an estimated $99 million. But, state officials did not give that enrollment reprieve this school year. Senate Bill 500, filed last month, would shift $906 million from the state’s rainy day fund to the current budget to help Harvey-affected school districts. The money in part is supposed to help eliminate the impact of property tax revenue loss for districts, but details about how much districts would get have not been released. The Aransas County district balanced its budget this school year on the hopes it receives $3.2 million from the Legislature. State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said she is working on a way to lessen the blow of the recapture payments. “Texas must see that Harvey-impacted schools have funds to operate as they regrow their community and enrollment. Solutions are being crafted during the ongoing Legislature,” Kolkhorst said. Although 2019 property values won’t be released until April, Mike Soto, Aransas County’s chief appraiser, predicts growth. Soto said one subdivision that saw a 15 percent decrease in valuation post-Harvey has seen an 8 percent increase since then. With revenue still down, both school districts are trying to boost enrollment, which would reduce their recapture payments. But with housing still limited, that is a tough task.

Marissa Whitstine, 47, takes chicken from a refrigerator to make the family dinner in a half-gutted, one-bedroom house in Rockport. The family was living in the smaller house while they were renovating a larger, adjacent home, when Hurricane Harvey struck. Both homes were badly damaged during the storm. [ANA RAMIREZ/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

Families struggle

Just a flew blocks down the street from the Aransas County school district's central administration building sits an apartment complex that was home to low-income families with children who attended the district's schools. The yellow building looks as if the hurricane hit just yesterday — windows are knocked out, and the bottom level is stripped to the studs. Affordable housing in other parts of Rockport is in similar disrepair or has been razed. “The reason why we’re still down 500 students is because there is no place to live,” said Wright, the school board president. “All of our apartments were damaged. All but one of our Section 8 (federal public) housing was damaged.” The Port Aransas school district will lose two students this month when 28-year-old Lauren Velez and her two children — age 4 and 9 — move back to her hometown in New York. Velez said she feels like the RV park where she lives is forcing her out for higher-paying tenants, and she can’t find affordable rent without moving out of the city. “There are places listed for $1,400 to $1,600 for a one- to two-bedroom. We can’t afford that. These people come in and bought these houses and fixed them, and they want to charge what they think it’s worth even though nobody can pay it,” said Velez, who waits tables at a local restaurant. “There's no living here for locals.” Tourism, along with her tips, has taken a major hit in Port Aransas. After Harvey ripped off the back end of her rental home and washed away her belongings, Velez and her young children didn’t return to Port Aransas until last February. A nonprofit had donated an RV so she could move back to Port Aransas.

Lauren Velez, 28, hugs her son Kyan Hand, 9, in Port Aransas. Velez and her two children lost their home in Hurricane Harvey. "(We) lost this place we called home for five years," she said. Facing rising rent and a lack of affordable housing in the community, Velez is moving her family back to her hometown in New York. [ANA RAMIREZ/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]