Abbott is Full of...

💩

The Governor of Texas has been pushing HARD for vouchers for the past few years. He’s taken millions from billionaires, both in and out of state, and used it to ensure the legislature is set up to deliver vouchers and ensure that racism, indoctrination, and profits all flow.

The State of Texas has a formula that defines what is spent on public education. The $10,000 proposed voucher amount in SB2 is MORE than what Texas provides on a per student basis. Yeah, that’s right, the State wants to give more to a voucher than it gives to your kid.

I’ll spell it out below for those who want to keep reading.

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When talking about vouchers, it’s important to make sure we are talking apples 🍎 to apples 🍎 . Governor Abbott likes to tout per student funding numbers (see the tweet below) that truly are a kitchen sink approach, throwing in EVERYTHING, even if it doesn’t really apply. Abbott claims the average funding per student for public schools is over $15,000, and following that logic, just $10,000 for a voucher must be a really good deal for taxpayers. 🙄

The one thing we will agree on is the $6,160 for the Basic Allotment. The Texas Legislature set it there in 2019 and it hasn’t moved since (even though things have gotten more expensive since 2019).

There are definitely a few things in the image that don’t’ fit.

• Federal funds are grants, given for very specific things, like free and reduced lunches for eligible low-income households (which is set at 150% of poverty, as opposed to the current Senate voucher bill, which puts low-income at 500% of poverty), so we are going to take them out of any voucher conversation. The state can’t redirect or use those funds. They stay with public schools, and they really aren’t per student funding. You can’t count them.

• Abbott lumps Maintenance & Operation (M&O) and Interest & Sinking (I&S) into the same bucket. One is an apple 🍎 . The other is definitely not.

  • M&O is the local taxes to pay for all of the things you think of happening in a school (paying salaries, buying books, paying the bills to keep the lights on, etc.) This is an apple 🍎 . This is what the state helps pay for. This counts.

  • I&S is when a local community takes a vote to increase the local tax rate for all district residents to provide something of benefit to the school district. Things like new schools, new facilities, refurbishing campuses, those are I&S. It’s explicitly for the district, approved by voters. This is not an apple and shouldn’t be a part of ANY conversation that includes justification for vouchers.

Based on the information from the Texas Education Agency, when you get down to just the things the state funding formula speaks to (the basic allotment plus a bunch of modifiers based on the makeup of a school district), in the 2024-2025 school year that comes to $50,953,250,798 (to be exact).

With 5.5 million public school students in Texas, that’s $9,164 per student. Long way from $15,503

What makes up the $50 billion?

Tier One (numbers in parentheses are where it is called out in education code) and the 2024-2025 amount after:

• Regular Program Allotment (48.051) $27,814,922,527

• Small and Mid-Size Allotment (48.101) $1,253,559,405

• Special Education Adjusted Allotment (48.102) $5,013,926,497

• Dyslexia Allotment (48.103) $215,426,904

• Compensatory Education (educationally disadvantaged & at-risk students) Allotment (48.104) $5,286,691,174

• Bilingual Education Allotment (48.105) $747,635,522

• Career and Technology Allotment (48.106) $3,454,301,327

• Public Education Grant (48.107) $0

• Early Education Allotment (48.108) $771,385,567

• Gifted & Talented Adjusted Allotment (48.109) $99,362,509

• CCMR (College, Career, Military) Outcomes Bonus (48.110) $211,882,000

• Fast growth allotment (48.111) $319,999,995

• Teacher Incentive Allotment (48.112) $292,606,389

• Mentor Program Allotment (48.114) $1,548,000

• School Safety Allotment (48.115) $183,409,210

• Transportation Allotment (48.151) $395,631,363

• New Instructional Facility Allotment (48.152) $84,179,339

• Dropout Recovery and Residential Placement Facility Allotment (48.153) $12,575,700

• Tuition Allotment for Districts not Offering All Grade Levels (48.154) $3,150,963

• College Preparation Assessment Reimbursement (48.155) $18,727,913

• Certification Examination Reimbursement (48.156) $14,005,759

Tier Two funding makes up $4,047,681,592. “Other Programs” is $714,641,168.

That’s what the state spells out. That’s what is real when we are talking about “funding public schools”.

ALL OF THAT is $9,164 per student.

Abbott and the other Republicans want to give Private Schools $10,000 per student.

Now we are talking apples 🍎 to apples 🍎 . And there is a worm in one of them.

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Above is a look at how the real per student funding numbers have changed in each of the past 10 schools years. 2024-2025 is lower than 2023-2024. And the voucher amount is of course above any of them.

The change year over year is based on two things:

1. The legislature changing the education code and funding formula (see 2019 and the step up there)

2. The make-up of the students in Texas and how they hit the elements in Tier one above.

I’ve got more thoughts on the trends (and so many more thoughts on why vouchers are bad), but I’ll save them for another day.

Big thought to walk away from today:

Abbott is full of 💩