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Corrupting Texas Education: Failing Children



A recent analysis of states' public school funding showed Texas and other Southern states lagging behind the national average.
A recent analysis of states' public school funding showed Texas and other Southern states lagging behind the national average.
EDUCATION
Report: Public school funding in Texas, Southern states lags behind nation
By Sabra Ayres Texas
PUBLISHED 5:00 PM CT Nov. 08, 2021

DALLAS — When it comes to funding public schools, Texas and other Southern states are lagging behind the rest of the nation, the result of which is
having a huge impact on students of color and students living in or near poverty, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
What You Need To Know

A new study from the Southern Poverty Law Center urges Texas and other Southern states to prioritize more equitable public school spending

The report is based on an annual national survey called “Making the
Grade,” which ranks states according to their public school funding

The new report says that a failure to adequately and equitably fund
public schools leads to “an outsized impact on students of color and
students living in or near poverty”

Nationally, Texas ranked 40 out of a total of 51, in which Washington,
D.C., is counted along with all 50 states when it comes to funding levels.
The Lone Star State received an “F” mark for its funding level of $11,987
per student, which was $3,127 the national average of $15,114.

The low ranking put Texas at the bottom of the list with 10 other states.
New York State was the highest in the national report, spending $11,520
above the national average per student, while Arizona was at the bottom of
the list, spending $5,397 less than the national level of $15,114.

When grouped among Southern states, Texas was in the top three for funding levels behind Louisiana and Georgia. Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida
and Mississippi followed.

The report, called “Inequity in School Funding: Southern States Must
Prioritize Fair Public School Spending,” looked at public school funding
in eight Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Analysts examined criteria established
by Education Law Center’s 2021 “Making the Grade” report, an annual
analysis of state-by-state public school funding.

The 2021 report examined funding for each state in 2019.

The report ranks and grades each state based on three key measures:
funding level, funding distribution and funding effort. The funding level
is determined by dividing state and local revenue by student enrollment, adjusted for local labor market costs. Funding distribution is the extent
to which additional funds are distributed to school districts where there
are high levels of students living in poverty. Funding effort refers to
the state’s funding allocations to support pre-kindergarten through high
school public education as a percentage of the state’s economic activity,
which is measured by gross domestic product.

When it comes to funding distribution, or how much a state allocates
funding to high-poverty districts relative to low-poverty districts, Texas received a D grade. The state, along with Alabama and Florida, was
considered to have regressive funding in which high-poverty districts on average received less per-pupil funding than low-poverty districts. In
Texas, that rate was 6%, while in Florida and Alabama the average funding disadvantage in high poverty districts was double that at 12%, the report showed.

The report emphasized the importance of fair school funding, which is the “foundational building block for high-performing, effective pre-
kindergarten through 12 public schools.”

“A strong funding foundation is especially critical for low-income
students, students of color, English learners, students with disabilities
and students facing homelessness, trauma and other challenges,” the report said.

Fair school funding is particularly significant in the Southern states
examined in the report because the “historical context of racial
segregation and resistance to integration still permeates education
politics and policymaking,” the report said.

In the south, public schools today have a disproportionate number of Black
and Latino students, while white students are overrepresented in private schools, according to the report. Some Southern states are increasing
funding for voucher systems which divert state funds into private
institutions while leaving public schools drastically underfunded, the
report said.

Inadequate funding of public schools and the failure to provide the
additional resources need to support low-income students creates “an
outsize impact on students of color” in the South, according to the
report.

About 14% of American students are educated in five of the states focused
on by the report (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi).
One in five of these students in these states is poor; one in three is
Black, according to the report.

Without equitable and adequate public school funding, pervasive racial and economic injustices perpetuate and exacerbate, the study said.

“Research shows that increasing school funding not only raises high school graduation rates but also leads to high adult wages and a lower likelihood
of adult poverty, with the biggest benefits for students from low-income families,” the report said.

“The data is clear: School finance in the Southern states is in drastic
need of improvement,” the report concluded.

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