This post draws from TPPF’s comprehensive explanation of Texas school finance, available here.
It’s common to hear support for increased education funding—last year a statewide Texas Tribune / UT poll found that about 60 percent of Texans thought that added funding would improve public schools. [1] This isn’t shocking. Since the early 70s, most Americans have said we’re spending less than we should to improve public education, and only a fifth now say that we’re spending what we should to educate our kids. [2]
So how much are we spending in Texas? For the sake of context, we can start by noting that education is consistently the largest part of our state’s budget. [3] After sorting through all revenue, we found that PreK-12 spending is about $50 billion annually. [4]
