Texas Public School Finance

The current school finance plan has been running since 1993. Up till that point, the system of funding public schools was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court. The Texas Constitution guarantees every child a free public education. Every child has a right to an equal share to provide a public education.

Since the districts of Texas are not equal, the "Robin Hood" system went into effect. Under the current system, 87% of the school districts in Texas receive a share of their public school funding from the other 13%.

Now, even though the current system of recapture levels the districts, the major problem is that it relies too heavily on local property taxes. The State of Texas currently contributes only 38% of the total cost of public education. The other 62% comes from local property taxes. The 38% that is contributed by the State is the lowest level of state support since World War.

The state is taking too much from a community just because it is "property wealthy" They do not take into consideration that these communities are growing at a rapid rate, so theses school districts are trying to play catch up because the states are taking too much money and they keep getting more and more children. They need to start using another resource because too much is being used from property taxes.