Budget cuts are affecting everyone—not even the Texas education system is immune. This is a revelation that seems to be sinking in for everyone. With the current budget shortfalls it is inevitable that public schools will be affected, and while it’s very unfortunate, proponents of funding for public education can’t make a solid case that education is more important than any other program (ahem… healthcare, for example.) Currently the House has proposed that public schools will receive $7.8 billion less, but the Senate has proposed a cut of $4 billion. There appears to be a very large discrepancy between the two, and this will be an interesting debate as the budget crisis continues. The silver lining to it all? Congress just freed up $830 million to help preserve Texas teaching jobs. While that won’t off-set the billions of dollars that are about to be cut from public education, $830 million is enough to celebrate. Even though you won’t find me crying in the corner about funding cuts for public education, I do have a few things to say about the target revenue system for school districts.
The target revenue system was enacted in 2006 in response to a Texas Supreme Court ruling. This is a very complicated system that essentially determines how much money a school district in given, and this is often measured in terms on dollars/student. This system has created a multi-tiered system that has caused huge discrepancies in the amount of funding a district is given. Many rural districts are on the very lower tier of funding. For example, San Angelo ISD gets $4981 per student a day while Austin ISD gets $6102 per student/day. This does not at all appear to be a fair system, and that’s why Senators like Robert Duncan are working to get rid of the target revenue system for Texas public schools. I salute Senator Duncan’s efforts.
All school districts should be treated equally, and districts like San Angelo ISD should be receiving just as much funding as AISD. We might not be able to solve the problems with the budget, but we can ensure that each Texas student is given a fair and equal education.
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