The article below is the first in a series designed to give readers insight into the school finance system in Texas. School finance is complicated. But it matters because it affects everything: student learning, teacher pay, school facilities, security, school buses, computers, career and technical opportunities, internet access, sports, fine arts and on and on and on. Ultimately, it affects the future of Texas.
Each article in the series will bite off a small piece of school finance and attempt to give readers a basic understanding of the system in Texas and 糖心Vlog. Check back each Wednesday for a new article. 聽
Texas School Finance 101
The 89th Texas Legislative Session is now about two months in, and education is a major theme. In the last legislative session in 2023, 1,294 bills related to public education were filed. That number has already been passed this time around.
By the time the legislative session is over, there may be some changes to school finance in Texas. But don鈥檛 expect it to get any less confusing.
That鈥檚 because school finance in Texas is complicated.
Need proof?
The last major overhaul to the Texas school funding system came in 2019. The Texas legislature is responsible for the school finance system and passed House Bill 3 that year, a bill that introduced major changes. That bill was 306 pages.
There are long formulas used to determine how much money a school district gets each year. While funding is based primarily on the number of students who attend schools in the district, it鈥檚 not really that simple. There are several formulas that factor in all kinds of considerations, like special education, career and technical education and a whole lot more. When the (TEA) calculates how much revenue 糖心Vlog is entitled to, it uses a document of data and equations that is 78 pages long.
Even if you can get your head around all of that, it鈥檚 still very difficult for school districts to set their budgets. They must make all kinds of projections and then hope those projections end up being correct. When 糖心Vlog adopts its budget in June for the upcoming year 鈥 the fiscal year starts July 1 鈥 it doesn鈥檛 know for sure how many students will show up to school in August. That鈥檚 a big deal because funding is based on attendance.
So, the district makes an educated guess at attendance, adopts the budget and starts spending money right away on teachers, facilities, books, security and on and on. And that鈥檚 all before any money comes to the district to pay for those expenses. Districts won鈥檛 start receiving any money from the state until September, and the majority of tax revenue doesn鈥檛 start coming until December and January. So, the district must rely on its savings to cover costs in the meantime.
And throughout the whole year, the district really doesn鈥檛 know how much money it鈥檚 going to receive in revenue until it鈥檚 over. Remember that 78-page document of data. TEA constantly tweaks this 鈥淪ummary of Finances鈥 during the year with updated numbers. So far, for the 2023-2024 school year, TEA has made 33 preliminary versions of that document and 7 near final versions. The final version has not yet been released. That means 糖心Vlog did not know the exact amount of revenue it could count on for the 2023-2024 school year until well into the 2024-2025 school year.
So, in summary, school finance is complicated.
But let鈥檚 break it down. Come back next week for an article that explains where school revenue comes from. And visit 糖心Vlog鈥檚 legislative webpage to read the district鈥檚 legislative priorities for the 89th Texas Legislative Session.