Texans need more education for their money

AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released a policy perspectiveanalyzing trends in state education spending since 2004.
 
“Texas spends billions more in inflation-adjusted dollars on public education now than if per-student funding had remained the same as in the 2004-05 school year,” said Dr. Vance Ginn, director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at TPPF and one of the authors of the perspective.
 
The report shows that although public education spending has fluctuated, real total spending increased 29.7 percent and real per-student spending grew 7.6 percent since the benchmark year.
 
Ginn points out that even though more money is now spent on education, that doesn’t mean students directly benefit.
 
“In the decade-plus since major school finance system changes, more money in the system hasn’t automatically translated to more money in the classroom. Instead of meeting each child’s unique needs, there’s been a large expansion in non-teacher staff,” said Ginn.
 
The perspective calls for a funding system more tied to students themselves. Such a model could help address achievement and funding inequalities found in the current school funding system.
 
 “We should focus on ways to increase achievement through student-centered funding instead of just throwing more money into the current public education system,” said Stephanie Matthews, vice president of public affairs at TPPF and the other co-author of the perspective. “Education funding focused on the child, not the system, will help Texans get better education results for the money.”
 
For more information or to request an interview, please contact Alicia Pierce at[email protected] or 512-472-2700.
 
Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity and a senior economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
 
Stephanie Matthews is the vice president of public affairs at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
 
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit free-market research institute based in Austin. The Texas Public Policy Foundation aims to advance a societal framework that effectively fosters human flourishing based upon cooperation and mutually beneficial exchange of ideas and speech.
 
Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com
Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TexasPublicPolicyFoundation
Twitter feed: www.Twitter.com/TPPF