School districts, the Democrat Party, and far-left advocacy groups have called for a radical change in the way we fund our public schools. Currently, school districts are funded based on the average number of students who show up each day in a school year, a system called average daily attendance or ADA.
But some on the left want to move to an enrollment-based system which funds schools based on how many students are enrolled, no matter if they attend or not. This change would be fiscally and morally irresponsible.
The Ghost Students Problem
States like California, Missouri, and Oklahoma are currently wasting billions of dollars funding students that exist in name only (either because they moved districts or dropped out after the start of the year). These “ghost students” only exist on a sheet of paper, yet the school receives full per-pupil funding despite not actually teaching the student.
Switching to enrollment-based funding will force taxpayers to pay billions more per-year to fund students that have moved to other school districts and states – effectively paying twice to educate the same child.
Really, billions?
Yes, $2.92 billion to be more precise. That is the minimum number of new dollars we will need to fund nearly half a million ghost students.
Comparison of ADA vs Enrollment Figures
That is the minimum because $2.92 billion represents only the increase in new obligations based on the basic allotment of $6,160 and not the full state average funding level of $15,503.
It Removes Incentives for Schools to Improve
Enrollment-based funding also takes away important incentives for schools – getting children into classrooms to learn.
The current ADA system pushes schools to work hard to get students to attend. Schools are motivated to find ways to connect with families and solve the problems that keep kids out of class, like transportation or bullying. But if schools get money just for enrolling students, they have much less incentive to address those issues. This could not come at a worst time, since most Texas students are not on grade-level in math nor reading.
Funding based on enrollment, rather than attendance, would only exacerbate the poor results we see across the system and cost taxpayers billions more dollars. Instead of adopting a flawed funding model, Texas should focus on strategies that help students succeed, such as addressing barriers to attendance and improving classroom engagement. Our goal should be to invest in what is most important: student outcomes.