Taxpayers demand more education for our tax dollars

Texans value education and fund public education well. According to the National Education Association, Texas ranks second in the nation in total public education expenditures . According to the National Association of Budget Officers, Texas ranks third in public education expenditures as a percent of the total budget.

Moreover, the per-pupil spending listed below does not include all spending. According to NEA figures, available revenues for the 2002-03 school year were $40.7 billion or $10,400 per student. (That figure includes local, state, and federal funding as well as bonds and other income.)

As administrators, education unions and lobbyists plead and demand more of our tax dollars, we first want more education for our dollars before we would consider more dollars for education.

TEXAS TAXPAYERS ARE PROVIDING MORE DOLLARS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION, YET AS THE REVENUES HAVE INCREASED, THE PERCENTAGE OF THOSE DOLLARS MAKING IT INTO TEXAS CLASSROOMS HAS BEEN DECREASING.

All too often, the standard answer to fixing public schools is simply to spend more money. Education unions and big-government advocates are calling for a state income tax and other tax increases to provide more funding for education.

BUT… Did you know that since 1998, total budgeted expenditures for Texas school districts increased $7 billion…a 23% increase… at a time when total school enrollment has only increased 7 percent!!!

Plus, less than half of this money actually made it into the classroom. In fact, as district spending has increased, the percentage of funds spent on instruction has decreased!

Rather than seek more taxpayer funding for education, we should focus on where the education dollars are going now. Most taxpayers would be shocked to find that: THE AVERAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT SPENDS LESS THAN 50 PERCENT OF ITS MONEY IN THE CLASSROOM!!!

The following schools deemed Academically Unacceptable according to data obtained from the State Comptroller's website .

As the following data illustrates, districts that become top-heavy in administration and spend more money outside the classroom don't achieve the same academic performance as schools that direct their spending to teachers and their classrooms. Comparable schools with a narrower gap between teacher salary and superintendent salary had a:

* 70% chance of a rating of Recognized or higher * 50% chance of an Exemplary rating

* 20% chance of a mediocre Acceptable rating * 0% chance of an Unacceptable rating

Mirando City ISD - $15,907 per pupil with 46.7 % spent on instruction – Academically Unacceptable

Fairfield ISD - $9,228 per pupil expenditure with 36.7% spent on instruction – Academically Unacceptable

Diboll ISD - $5,844 per pupil expenditure with 45.7% spent on instruction - Academically Unacceptable

Morgan ISD - $7,434 per pupil with 45.7% spent on instruction – Academically Unacceptable

La Gloria ISD - $7,914 per pupil expenditure with 49.5 spent on instruction – Academically Unacceptable

Let's look at the numbers! Texas currently classifies every school district as Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable or Unacceptable, based on a series of criteria including test scores and dropout rates. As the following table illustrates, simply spending more money does nothing to improve educational quality.

	% of students passing all tests	Student/teacher ratio	% spent on instruction	per pupil spending
Avg. of all Exemplary schools:	94.5	11.4	50.6	$8,272.40
Avg. of all Unacceptable schools:	76.3	11.2	49.2	$8,638.90

The following district comparison reveals the difference that can be made by spending dollars in the classroom:

Texhoma : Spends $4,345 ~ per pupil (lowest in state). Rated recognized , with 86.3% of their students passing all tests. 55.2% economically disadvantaged. 60.2% of funds spent on instruction (ranked 18 th ) 277 total students.

Red Lick : Spends $4,500~ per pupil (lowest in state) . Rated exemplary , with more than 99% of their students passing all tests. 16.3% economically disadvantaged. 62.1% of funds spent on instruction (ranked 10 th ) . 360 students.

New Boston : Spends $5,900~ per pupil . Rated exemplary, with more than 95% of their students passing all tests. 50.2% economically disadvantaged. 55.2% of funds spent on instruction . 407 students.

Fairfield : Spends $9,228~ per pupil . Rated unacceptable, with less than 80% of their students passing all tests. 39.4% economically disadvantaged. 36.7% spent on instruction . 358 students.

Note: All information comes from TEA reports and the Comptroller's website. All data is 2002-2003. TEA does not include all revenue sources. NEA cites $10,400 as the average Texas per pupil funds available.

Texas Graduation Rate 67%

Study Finds Only 39% of the Students Leave Texas High Schools Qualified to Attend College…

A new Manhattan Institute study, Public High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates in the United States, finds that Texas ' overall graduation rate was 37th in the nation at 67%. However, according to the Texas Education Agency only 1% of high school students drop out each year. The study also finds that the graduation rates for black and Hispanic students in Texas were 62% and 57%, respectively. Taxpayers deserve to know college preparedness rates and accurate dropout rates.

Are Texas teachers poorly paid? The American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers union, ranked Texas teacher pay at 17th nationally when adjusted for cost of living. (Ranking released 2003)