School Finance History

History of School Finance- Week 1 Assignment 1

I find it both refreshing and alarming that the great state of Texas has made education a priority yet failed to adequately and equitably fund it for over 165 years. Refreshing because we evidently have struggled in this state to define our role for many years, not just in my lifetime. Alarming, because the future of a state and nation is at risk more than ever. It is a history of mixed messages sent by a state that on one hand chooses to promote public education, yet undermine it. Three events are especially important in the history of public school finance. Beginning with statehood in 1845, the Texas Constitution mandated the creation of a public school system, a system that would be free and public. Governor Lamar set about creating systems and programs, like the land grants for public schools that made education a priority in the state. He was effectively beginning to take action on the belief that the state itself should make education available. In 1869, the state took another step when mandatory public schooling was written into the new constitution and taxes began to be collected for this endeavor. One could imagine the debate in many circles in this state of rugged individualism. I suspect lawmakers debated the value of funding a state system and dealt with pressure from constituents who did not see its value or as a duty of the state. Was this evidenced by the number of citizens who refused to pay their taxes? Texas seems to struggle with the idea of making education funding a priority while creating equitable funding systems, as evidence by the continuous court challenges to our funding system which has been challenged and found to be unconstitutional and lacking equity multiple times. Efforts are made in each session to promote voucher programs that take money from the public school system and more efforts are made in the area of standardized testing and accountability than are often made in the area of innovation. The final major event that I would like to highlight in the history of public school finance is actually the legislative session of 2011. With the state facing a budget shortfall, tough decisions had to be made. Unfortunately, those decisions were not necessarily made in the best interest of children. Projections for budget cuts to education reached as high at 13 billion dollars. In the end the cuts were less severe, but devastating nonetheless. My current district, for example is losing 13 million a year for two years and having to make decisions about going to an 8 period day at the secondary levels, not because it is necessarily best for kids, but because it will save millions of dollars, save jobs, and keep the district solvent. Not since WWII had funding for public education actually been cut. Yet, the legislature found no ways to fully and adequately fund the largest, most diverse, and increasingly needy population in Texas history. Will the mixed messages continue throughout our history as we continue to espouse with our mouths the importance of education and competing in ever changing world, even as we send the opposite message with the stroke of the budgetary pen?