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Most Texans don’t know the details of how our public schools are funded. On average, students receive $14,650 each per year — 51% from local sources, 37% from state sources and 12% from federal sources.
These ratios vary considerably across districts. For example, in the Elgin Independent School District, it is 49% local, 46% state and 5% federal.
As state and possibly federal funding for public schools effectively goes down, more pressure is placed on local sources. That pressure will accelerate across Texas starting next year, when the new Universal Education Savings Account program begins diverting public education funds into private hands.
This is what we are really getting instead of “school choice.”
The biggest problem with this new program, as seen in other states that have tried it, is that it undermines the real pathway to educational equity—a properly funded, robust and accessible universal public school system, which is what the Texas Constitution requires. What the Constitution does not require is the Legislature put public and private schools in competition with one another for funds and students.
This new program is also happening in a context where at least 75% of public-school districts have been underfunded since the pandemic, to the point where the state’s per-pupil average funding is now about $3,000 below the national average.
Meanwhile, the governor says public school students will now be fully funded— while proposing an increase of just $395 to the basic allotment per student. That amount does not even cover the rate of inflation since the pandemic.
Being aware of this problem, it would be prudent to watch the districts’ proposed and adopted yearly budget statements.
Telltale signs to watch for include: more good teachers leaving, more schools closing, more school districts asking for voter-approved tax-rate elections and bond issues, more added school fees, more school board turmoil, four-day school weeks, property taxes going up while property values decline, more state funding diverted into universal voucher programs and state leaders continuing to ignore the real problems in our public schools they created.
Texas’ kindergar ten through 12th grade academic- achievement levels have long suffered from persistent underfunding, as seen in the National Assessment of Educational Progress Nation’s Report Card, where proficiency scores in math and reading are below average. This trend is also reflected in the declining average SAT and ACT scores of high school graduates.
Now that the Universal Education Savings Account program is law, I must ask state Rep. Stan Gerdes and his allies: Why would they create a program so blatantly corrupt, nonconservative and harmful to about 98% of school-aged children and parents across the state, as well as the public schools and communities they belong to?
I would also ask public- school parents: Why are you tolerating this attack on your children’s future, and what do you intend to do about it?
It may benefit a few who are willing to travel, who earn enough to afford the remaining costs not covered, or who already live in one of the 10 most populous counties in the state — but otherwise, I doubt it.
Instead, I suggest these parents and others consider voting out the officials who created this law next year.
To those folks I say: You can change the trajectory of this harmful program if you truly want to—or you can sit back and let your children, and ours, be “dumbed down.”
Krasner, a Spicewood resident, is a retired professional.
