107. The Last Word - A Legal and Moral Crisis: Texas Public Schools Deserve Better
This week’s Last Word examines Texas’ growing education funding crisis. Despite a record state budget surplus, public schools—especially in San Antonio—are being left behind. Lawmakers continue to prioritize political battles over solutions,...
This week’s Last Word examines Texas’ growing education funding crisis. Despite a record state budget surplus, public schools—especially in San Antonio—are being left behind. Lawmakers continue to prioritize political battles over solutions, and the result? Underfunded classrooms, underpaid teachers, and increasing pressure on local school districts to do more with less.
Bob breaks down the legal and moral responsibility Texas has to fund its schools, the ongoing standoff in Austin, and what it means for students, parents, and educators in San Antonio.
With public education at a crossroads, now is the time to ask: Will Texas finally step up, or will politics once again leave our schools behind?
Tune in for a sharp commentary on education, leadership, and the future of Texas schools.
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The Last Word: The State’s Legal and Moral Obligation to Fund Public Education
All eyes are on Washington DC as President Trump and his unelected consigliere Elon Musk engage in an unprecedented effort to remake federal agencies and the government workforce. Less attention is being paid to an issue of critical importance to the future of Texas: public school funding.
The 88th session of the Texas Legislature in 2023 ended with lawmakers sending Gov. Greg Abbott a $4.5 billion school funding bill that the governor angrily vetoed after failing to obtain a school voucher bill that would have allowed families to access taxpayer dollars to send their children to Christian and other sectarian schools.
The veto was devastating for many of the state’s more than 1,200-plus public schools districts struggling to recover from the pandemic and now saddled with budget deficits. Multiple Republican legislators in the Texas House who defied Abbott’s demand for a school voucher bill were subsequently “primaried” by the governor. Most were defeated at the polls by even more conservative candidates.
Texas has a long history of inadequate and unequal funding of public schools. Federal lawsuits over the decades have forced lawmakers to adopt somewhat more equitable funding mechanisms, but Texas is still a state where the quality of public schools still depends largely on the zip code. Wealthier districts generate greater ad valorem taxes, and have access to more resources, while poorer districts operate with inadequate tax bases and a lack of resources.
Now, in 2025, lawmakers are yet again awash in billions of dollars in windfall revenues as they fashion the state’s next biennial budget. They are being lobbied by community leaders across the state to pass legislation that will help districts restore operations, give teachers pay raises, and meet the state’s academic performance demands.
Of course, there is no emergency at hand in this instance, and while the governor also has called for improved teacher pay, nothing in the works at the state capitol will alter Texas’ position as one of the 10 worst states for per capita student spending. The last such increase in Texas came in 2019.
Proposed legislation now in committee would increase public school funding by several billion dollars, less than lawmakers proposed two years ago. Factoring in inflation and persistent, post-pandemic issues such as low classroom attendance, school districts will have to do more with less.
The only long-term option for school district leaders might lie with the federal courts. The state’s elected leaders have a constitutional obligation to adequately fund public schools that serve the state’s 5.5 million students. More than half (53%) of those students are Hispanic and the majority (62%) live in economically disadvantaged households, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Less than 500,000 (422,930; 7.6%) of those students attend state-authorized charter schools, although the charter school population continues to grow at twice the rate of the state’s overall student population.
Section 1 of Article 7 in the Texas Constitution makes the state’s responsibility to adequately fund public schools very clear. Let me quote the constitution written in the language of 1845: “A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”
The state’s Permanent School Fund balance exceeded $57 billion in 2024, providing more than $4.5 billion for the 2026-2027 biennial state budget. Legislators have tens of billions of dollars more in windfall revenues to spend this session, and that is without tapping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund, established in 1988. That fund is projected to hit $27 billion by the end of this fiscal year, exceeding the constitutional cap that requires the fund to be drawn down.
My point here is that even if legislators approve a voucher bill, there are sufficient funds to adequately fund public schools. To do so, legislators would have to increase per capita student spending to make up for its failure to do so over the last six years.
That would still leave Texas, with the fastest growing, healthiest economy in the country, well short of per capita student spending in states with significantly higher public education outcomes.
Each year, the public school population in Texas becomes more economically disadvantaged with a higher percentage of minority students. Even in the current political moment where “diversity” has become a dirty word, it’s obvious that Texas is not investing in its own future.
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[00:00:00] Bob Rivard: Welcome to The Last Word, my weekly commentary on life and work in San Antonio and Texas. Well, all eyes are on Washington, D. C. as President Trump and his unelected consigliere, Elon Musk, engage in an unprecedented effort to remake federal agencies in the government workforce. Less attention is being paid to an issue of critical importance to the future of Texas, public school funding.
The 88th session of the Texas legislature in 2023 Ended with lawmakers sending Governor Greg Abbott a 4. 5 billion school funding bill that the governor angrily vetoed after failing to obtain a school voucher bill that would have allowed families to access taxpayer dollars to send their children to Christian and other sectarian schools.
The veto was devastating for many of the state's more than 1, 200 public school districts struggling to recover from the pandemic and now saddled with budget deficits. Multiple Republican legislators in the Texas House who defied Abbott's demand for a school voucher bill were subsequently primaried by the governor.
Most were defeated at the polls by even more conservative candidates. Texas has a long history of inadequate and unequal funding of public schools. Federal lawsuits over the decades have forced lawmakers to adopt somewhat more equitable funding mechanisms, but Texas is still a state where the quality of public schools still depends largely on the zip code where you live.
Wealthier districts generate greater ad valorem taxes. And have access to more resources. Poor districts operate with an inadequate tax basis and a lack of resources. Now in 2025, lawmakers are back in session, yet again, a wash in billions of dollars in windfall revenues from our growing economy. As they fashion the state's next biennial budget.
They are being lobbied by community leaders across the state to pass legislation again that will help districts restore operations, give teachers pay raises, and meet the state's academic performance demands. Of course, there is no emergency at hand in this instance, and while the governor also has called for improved teacher pay, nothing in the works at the state capitol will alter Texas's position as one of the ten worst states for per capita student spending.
The last such increase, in fact, in Texas came in 2019, six years ago. Proposed legislation now in committee would increase public school funding by several billion dollars, less than lawmakers proposed two years ago. Factor in inflation and persistent post pandemic issues, such as low classroom attendance, and school districts will have to do more with less.
The only long term option for school district leaders might lie with the federal courts again. The state's elected leaders have a constitutional obligation to adequately fund public schools, the schools that serve the state's 5. 5 million students. Now today, more than half, 53 percent of those students are Hispanic.
And the majority, 62%, live in economically disadvantaged households. That's according to data from the Texas Education Agency. Less than 500, 000 of those students, about 7%, attend state authorized charter schools. Although the charter school population continues to grow at twice the rate of the state's overall student population.
Section 1 of Article 7 in the Texas Constitution makes the state's responsibility to adequately fund public schools very clear. Let me quote the Constitution, which was written in the language of 1845. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of the state to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.
Close quotes. The state's Permanent School Fund balance exceeded 57 billion in 2024, providing more than 4. 5 billion for the 2026 2027 biennial state budget. Legislators have tens of billions of dollars more in windfall revenues to spend this session. And that's without tapping into the state's Rainy Day Fund, which was established in 1988.
That fund is projected to hit 27 billion by the end of this fiscal year, exceeding the constitutional cap that requires legislators to draw down funds. My point here is that even if legislators approve a 1 billion voucher bill, there are sufficient funds to adequately take care of public schools.
To do so, legislators would have to increase per capita student spending to make up for the failure to do so over the last six years. That would still leave Texas with the fastest growing, healthiest economy in the country, well short of per capita student spending that we see in states with significantly higher public education outcomes.
Each year, the public school population in Texas becomes more economically disadvantaged with a higher percentage of minority students. Even in the current political moment, where diversity has become a dirty word, it's obvious that Texas is not investing in its own future. That's my last word for this week.
Thank you for listening. We'll see you next week. Please share this episode with friends and colleagues and do sign up for our new newsletter Monday Musings. Big City Small Town is brought to you by Western Urban, building the city our children want to call home, and Geekdom, where startups are born and smart ideas become businesses.
Our producer is Corey Ames, video by Erica Rempel. Sound Engineering by Alfie de la Garza of Sound Crane Audio. We will see you next week.
