Newsroom>School Funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     CONTACT:  Richard Kouri
December 5, 2005                                                                   512-917-9150

Texas School Funding Trending Toward Failure and Inadequacy

Erosion of State Financial Support Threatens Progress

Texas is the only state in the nation that reduced the assistance provided to help students meet higher standards during the 2004-2005 school year, according to a recent report released by the National Education Association (NEA).

NEA’s latest Rankings and Estimates of School Statistics for the 2004-05 school year paints a bleak picture of public school funding in Texas:

• Per pupil expenditures for education in Texas fell by 1 percent from the previous year, and Texas dropped from 36th to 40th relative to other states’ education investments.  Texas now spends $1,476 per student less than the national average. 

• Texas teacher salaries fell – for the fifth consecutive year – to 33rd in the country.  Texas teachers make $6,799 less than the national average. 

• Texas’ student population has grown by more 70,000 students a year for the past 10 years, and this report doesn’t take into account this year’s influx of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

• The state share of education investments dropped by 3.2% in 2004-05, confirming reports that the state may provide 35% or less of the funding for Texas public schools.

“The Texas Supreme Court just warned the legislature that we are ‘drifting toward constitutional inadequacy,’ and this new data indicates that our state education investments may have already failed to make the grade and slipped into that category,” said Texas State Teachers Association President Donna New Haschke. 

“Although teachers and education support professionals have fought against all odds to help our students continue to make progress and meet academic standards, they cannot continue to do so without the tools they need for teaching and learning,” Haschke observed.

“The legislative leadership has failed to craft and pass a viable plan to provide funding to improve Texas schools for the past three years,” she said.  “It was inevitable that Texas would continue to fall farther behind what other states are doing to help our students and teachers.”

Haschke called for a broad-based, bipartisan, long-range plan to provide Texas children what they need to succeed in school and in life.

“If the politicians opt for a quick fix in next spring’s special session instead of developing a responsible plan, things will be even worse next year,” Haschke said.  “It’s time to face the facts:  Texas public schools are seriously under funded, and it’s past time for the legislature to invest in Texas students who hold the key to our future economic potential.”

Click here for the complete report.
Chart was updated at 1:35 p.m. on 12/5/05 to reflect corrected higher national averages for 2004 and 2005.