School funding in Texas has been the focus of investigation, litigation, and - in terms of fixing it - procrastination. Several times the system has come under fire and been deemed irredeemable in its current form, but little has been done by the state to remedy the way we calculate and fund schools. A new reportgives the state an "F" grade on several of the four metrics.
"Texas is the only state that is very poorly positioned on all four fairness measures," says the report,
The report from the Education Law Center and Rutgers University looked at every state in the union and rated funding distribution, funding level, effort (which measures the capacity of the state to fund, and how much it does fund), and coverage.
One school district superintendent says state lawmakers are failing Texas' public school students "miserably" by not investing in public ed.
Brian Woods at Northside ISD says "In my mind this notion of fairness has to do with 'what kind of state resources are we going to dedicate to the next generation of Texans and what the report points out is that in Texas we made the decision to not spend much money in that way."
Quality teachers, competent staff, and up-to-date facilities all cost money and in our property-poor districts, the education funding is a trickle compared to its better funded neighbors.
What has to happen to fix our broken public school funding system?
Guests:
- Brian Woods, superintendent for North Side Independent School District in San Antonio
- David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in New Jersey
