EDLD+5343+School+Finance+-+History+of+Texas+School+Finance

Top three events in the history of Texas school finance:
 * 1) President Mirabeau B. Lamar persuaded the legislature to provide two land grants for universities and land grants in each county for schools. He is known as “The Father of Texas Education.” This set the stage for funding public education.
 * 2) The Texas Constitution of 1876 was adopted which established the Permanent and Available School Funds. It also contained language that required the Legislature to support and maintain an “efficient system of public free schools” for the “general diffusion of knowledge.” This would set the stage for future litigation against the Legislature.
 * 3) In 2006 the Legislature addressed two major issues addressed by the Texas Supreme Court - public school finance and property tax relief. The “fixes” included the implementation of the target revenue system and a hold harmless provision. The target revenue system froze WADA funding at 2005-2006 levels. In 2011, those same target revenues are still in effect. Districts have seen tremendous changes in enrollment and demographic shifts since 2005-2006 and are being harmed by an inefficient, inadequate, and inequitable funding system. In 2011, the Legislature did not fix these problems but rather cut education funding from the lowest-funded districts.

As I review the history of Texas school finance it is easy to see how we are in this mess. Everything I have learned has made it apparent that the Legislature does not want to create an adequate and equitable funding system. If they did, they would have done so by now. The original intent was to have the State provide funding for the basic education of all Texas students (“a general diffusion of knowledge”) and then the local school boards could levy local property taxes if the community wanted to provide more than the basic education. The funding burden has been moved to the local school boards. Some districts cannot fund a basic education no matter how highly they tax the community. I do not want to be a conspiracy theorist, but it seems like there is a plan to set schools up for failure. The districts with the most disadvantaged students received the deepest cuts to basic educational programs, while the wealthy districts continue to have an abundance of money for additional educational and extra-curricular programs. It is a travesty. The current funding system must be changed.