Friday, April 18, 1997

Looking for big changes in funding for education

By J.T. SMITH / Farm Editor

The president of Texas' largest general farm organization is hailing the work of a special Texas House Committee in drafting a bill that imposes sweeping changes on the state's system of funding public education.

"The House Committee on Revenue and Public Education Funding has done an outstanding job in putting together a package that is fair and reasonable," said Bob Stallman, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. "The Texas Farm Bureau supports this bill, and we will work for passage in the house."

Stallman singled out Rep. Paul Sadler of Henderson, the committee's chairman, for "exemplary leadership" during the committee's deliberations.

The bill approved by the committee includes a 50 percent reduction in school property taxes on residences, which will be capped by statute.

In most school districts, taxes on business property - including agricultural land - will receive tax relief of 15 cents to 20 cents per $100 of valuation. This rate will be capped by a constitutional amendment.

Reductions would come in two ways

The reductions in property taxes will be paid for in two ways.

First, the state corporate franchise tax would be extended to all businesses in the state except sole proprietorships.

The state sales tax also will be extended to some previously exempt items.

Stallman, a Columbus farmer, served earlier this year on Gov. George W. Bush's Citizens Committee for Property Tax Relief. He says TFB became involved in the property tax debate to ease the burden on homeowners and capital intensive business - especially agricultural landowners.

Stallman also warned that the property tax, with a declining base across the state, is a shaky foundation for future school funding.

"Our position has been that the property tax is not adequate to fund Texas schools in the 21st century," Bush said.

Biocontrol may gang up on armyworms

Double trouble may loom ahead for beet armyworms that ravage cotton plants. USDA researchers are teaming a natural insect virus with a parasitic wasp to put the whammy on the pest.

The virus, called a nuclear polyhedrosis virus, liquefies bodies of the beet armyworm caterpillars it infects. No harm to people, animals, or beneficials.

The parasitic wasp lays its eggs in the worm. When the wasp larvae hatch, they feed on the pest's innards.

Meanwhile, spraying the virus killed more than half the worms in four days.