Budget shortfalls are making some communities consider a future without their neighborhood school, according to the nonprofit Our Schools Our Democracy. (Photo by fstop123/Getty Images)
Amid declining enrollments and budget shortfalls, public school supporters are concerned that a $1 billion school voucher program will funnel more money away from neighborhood schools.
Public schools throughout Texas are struggling with funding.
In North Texas, nearly a dozen schools will shutter their doors for good by the end of this year, citing declining enrollments and budget shortfalls.
In Texas, public schools are funded by local property taxes, and state and federal funds. Currently, schools receive a base allotment per student of $6,160 based on attendance, not enrollment, and more than $15,000 per student from the mix of sources, according to the Texas Education Agency.
With declining enrollment and chronic-absenteeism, schools have had to get creative in order to keep their doors open. Keller ISD in North Texas has proposed splitting in two to address financial challenges, while districts in Frisco and McKinney are enrolling out-of-district students.
“I think people for the first time are having to face a future where they’re thinking about what would happen if their schools no longer existed in their neighborhoods,” said Maggie Stern, community engagement director at Our Schools Our Democracy, a Texas nonprofit that advocates for public education and raises awareness about the harms of school privatization.
“So many school districts have seen schools close over the past several years because they haven’t received the necessary funding from the state or because that funding is going to fund a charter school right down the block instead of a school that’s been there for decades serving families,” Stern said.
House Bill 2 — filed by Rep. Brad Buckley, a Republican from Salado who also chairs the House Committee on Public Education — raises the basic allotment per student by $220, but critics say the increase isn’t enough.
Educators have been asking for an increase in the allotment for several years, as the amount hasn’t been increased since 2019. Gov. Greg Abbott tied increased public school funding to school vouchers in 2023. When vouchers failed, school funding wasn’t increased.
Buckley also sponsored the state’s school voucher program, HB3, which is scheduled for a committee hearing on Tuesday, March 11. The Senate passed a separate voucher bill on Feb. 7. The two bills have significant differences but would provide $1 billion to public funds for parents to pay for private schools.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from Texans across the state, from every political background, that Texans really support our public schools, and that the vast majority of Texans do not actually want to see a voucher system get passed that would further privatize education,” Stern said.
“We don’t need these separate school systems taking state funding, we need to be funding the public system that already exists and that is serving the vast majority of Texas students across the state,” she added.”
And while lawmakers have stressed that the state will prioritize low-income and special needs students in the voucher program, critics of the legislation are weary.
”We deeply believe that schools belong to all Texans,” Stern said. “And that they are fundamental to ensuring that we have a Texas where every parent, every student, and every community member has a say in the decisions that are being made about one of the most fundamental services that the state provides for Texas children.”
