PLANO -- School district officials on Thursday called on the state to pay its "fair share" for public education.

Plano ISD school board president Missy Bender told a roomful of business leaders that the state's "Robin Hood" school financing system is unsustainable. The system leaves property-rich districts like Plano ISD to send millions of dollars in tax revenue to the state to help property-poor districts.

"We're all saying, 'Uncle,'" Bender said during a panel discussion on public school finance hosted by the Plano Chamber of Commerce and Collin County Business Alliance. "We've got to fix this now, together."

Missy Bender, Plano ISD school board president, speaks as Todd Williams, executive director of education nonprofit The Commit Partnership, looks on during a panel discussion on school finance Thursday in Plano. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

Last year, Plano ISD ranked No. 2 in the state -- behind only Austin ISD -- in revenue lost to the state.

Plano school officials estimate the district this year will lose $208 million to the state. That's about double what it was two years ago.

Bender said the wealthy district isn't against the idea of helping poorer schools. But the system as it's designed doesn't do enough to help those schools, she said.

And even if the economy suddenly sputtered and property tax revenue flattened, Plano ISD would still have to pay a bigger tab the following year to the state because values are based on the prior year, said Randy McDowell, the district's chief financial officer.

McDowell called that possibility "scary."

"Things have to change," he said.

If a downturn happens, the district would be in a tough spot, McDowell said. Its maintenance and operations tax rate is already $1.17 per $100 valuation -- the maximum rate allowed by law.

And the state's current system partially negates years of population growth and rising property values because it decreases funding to districts as local property tax revenue increases.

Other school districts have cited similar bleak potential outlooks. Tired of waiting on changes to the state education financing system, several of them -- including Richardson, Frisco and Dallas ISDs -- have called tax-ratification elections this fall. Dallas and Richardson are asking for straight-up 13-cent tax increases.

Other districts are proposing some form of a "tax swap and drop." Frisco ISD, for instance, is asking voters to approve a 13-cent increase. The school board also has adopted a resolution to lower its debt service rate by 15 cents if the measure passes.

Bender said school districts should "ask the state to pay its fair share." The lost revenue, she said, "is your money."

Gov. Greg Abbott said in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News that the state's education funding model is a "flawed system" and that more funding is needed, but added legislators need to focus on making academic strides.

But state legislators, whose constituents have seen property values and tax bills soar in recent years, have struggled to find solutions. Lawmakers failed to increase funding for schools during last year's special session.

During the session, the Legislature approved a bill to create a commission on public school finance to study solutions.

Todd Williams, executive director of education nonprofit The Commit Partnership and one of the commission's members, said he expects lawmakers will address school finance during next year's legislative session.

Williams said "pouring a ton of money" into school districts from the state's coffers won't solve the problem. But the Legislature must act because "our current school finance system is broken," Williams wrote in an email after the panel.

Todd Williams, executive director of education nonprofit The Commit Partnership, spoke as Missy Bender, Plano ISD school board president, looked on during a panel discussion Thursday on school finance at the Plano First Executive Breakfast Series at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

He said the current system doesn't serve students living in poverty, places too much of a burden on local taxpayers and doesn't deliver enough student achievement.

He said the commission has found that poor students and kids who don't speak English as their first language -- some of the state's fastest-growing populations -- don't have enough resources to make sure they learn to read in elementary school and obtain some kind of post-secondary degree or technical training after high school.

Williams said during the panel discussion that the commission wants legislators to make sure teachers are effective and well-compensated and that children can read by the third grade. He also wants lawmakers to expect that all students will pursue post-secondary education of some kind.

McDowell said afterward he is optimistic school finance will be addressed in the next legislative session, but said it will take a bigger investment from the state.

"And that's always the sticking point," he said.