Ensuring Fair School Funding for All Students

All students deserve to go to excellent, well-funded schools.

Policies that base funding on community wealth and ignore the real costs of educating all students hurt everyone, especially students of color, students from families with limited incomes, and students who require additional programs, supports and services.

Learn more about IDRA’s work to ensure fair school funding for all students below.

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Since its founding, IDRA has worked to make sure schools are funded fairly. Unfortunately, we continue to have funding systems that benefit some students more than others. Students who live in communities that are able to raise a lot of money through property taxes often have more resources for school buildings, high-quality teachers, counselors and learning materials. Their fellow students who live in poorer districts – because of a history of racial segregation and intentionally harmful housing and economic policies – do not have access to the same important resources.

IDRA supports families, communities, and students – particularly students from families with limited incomes, students of color, English learners, and others – who demand access to great, well-funded schools. We advocate sustainable policies that accurately identify the cost of education for all students and fund all schools fairly.

Learn more about IDRA’s policy recommendations for Texas.

Resources

Changing Policy

Sign-On Letter: Public Charter Transparency – Comments to the Texas Education Agency, April, 2024

My Siblings Deserve Better, Fully Funded Schools – IDRA Testimony Submitted by Jordan Madden to the Senate Education and Youth Committee, in support of SB 284/HB 668, March 20, 2024

Texas Has Alternatives to Recapture Discounts to Keep Equitable Funding in Schools – IDRA Testimony against HB 3028, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 20, 2023

Education Savings Accounts Contradict Steps to Improve Texas Special Education – IDRA Testimony against SB 1474, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, April 12, 2023

Private School Voucher Programs Disempower Parents – IDRA Testimony against HB 4807, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 11, 2023 – See video

Education Savings Accounts Should Not Come at the Cost of Improvements to Texas Special Education – IDRA Testimony against HB 3781, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 11, 2023

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) Subsidize Discrimination Against Students – TLEEC Testimony Against HB 4340, submitted by Diana Long to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 11, 2023 – See video

Texas Doesn’t Have to Give a Discount to Reduce Recapture and Keep Equitable Funding in Schools – IDRA Testimony against SB 2088, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, April 5, 2023

Greater Investments and Targeted Supports Make Texas Public Schools Better for All Students – IDRA Testimony on HB 100, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., and Diana Long, to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 4, 2023

SB 8 Poses a Threat to Students’ Civil Rights with Devastating, Discriminatory Impacts on Vulnerable Students – TLEEC Testimony Against SB 8, submitted by Diana Long to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 22, 2023

Students Deserve to Attend Fully-Funded Public Schools That Affirm and Sustain All Aspects of their Identity – IDRA Testimony Against Senate Bill 233, Submitted to the Georgia House Education Committee on March 20, 2023

Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition Urges State Leaders to Oppose Private Voucher Schemes, February 16, 2023

HB 59 Strips Schools of the Local Funding They Need for Equitable and Adequate Education – IDRA Testimony against House Bill 59, Submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., before House Ways & Means Committee, April 12, 2021

Educational Institutions Need Protected State Funding – IDRA comments by Dr. Chloe Latham Sikes submitted to House Appropriations, Re: Public Education and Higher Education; and to Senate Finance, Re: Public Education and Higher Education, February 22, 2021

Texas Must Fulfill its Funding Promises to Public Schools – IDRA Policy Priorities for Texas Legislative Session (English) • (Español), December 17, 2020

IDRA Principles of Fair Funding for the Common Good

Hispanic Education Coalition Outlines Federal Appropriations Priorities for Fiscal Year 2021: U.S. House • U.S. Senate

Summary of Texas School Finance Reforms: 2019

Testimony: Ensuring Equity and a Meaningful Education for All Students

Acting on Research and Data

How Texas Schools Are Funded – And Why that Matters to Collective Success – Issue Brief, By Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., August 2022

Summary of Model School Finance Legislation

Infographic: Texas State Divestment of Education

Expert Analysis and Testimony in the Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition vs. Michael Williams, et al., court case

Policy Brief: Fair and Essential Education Funding Requires State Investment

White Paper: The Cost of Inequity in Education

Book: Texas School Finance Reform: An IDRA Perspective

Engaging Communities

Joint Testimony by the Texas Postsecondary Advocates Coalition (PAC): Texas Interim Charge 4, Questions 1, 4, 6: Digital Divide, September 1, 2020

Coalition Letter to State Leaders About Investing in Education

IDRA’s Texas School Finance news dashboard

Communicating Effectively

Why Some San Antonio Students Want an End to School Policing, by Camille Phillips, Texas Public Radio, July 9, 2020

Podcast: A History of School Funding in Texas

Op-ed: No Place for Complacency in Educating Poor Children

For more resources, see IDRA’s Fair Funding for Common Good site.

Keeping the Public in Public Education

Public funds should remain in public schools, with oversight from local communities.

Policies that funnel much-needed resources to charter schools, private school vouchers, and other similar programs hurt traditional public schools and the students and families they serve.

Traditional public schools receive public funds, are operated by publicly-elected school boards, and should be held accountable by the communities, families and students they serve. Public governance, engagement and accountability are critical parts of ensuring strong schools for all students.

Unfortunately, there is a growing movement to invest in charter schools, voucher programs, education savings account, and other programs that funnel money away from the public schools that are open to all students, toward privately-run schools and individual families.

IDRA collaborates with students, families, and other advocacy organizations to protect and improve traditional public schools. Our research and advocacy aim to challenge the narratives that lead to bad policies and practices that harm public school students.

Resources on Keeping the Public in Public Education

Changing Policy

Private School Vouchers Undermine Texas Students’ Ability to Access Equitable Educational Opportunities – TLEEC Testimony on Educational Opportunities in Texas, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Committee on Public Education, August 12, 2024

Voucher Bill Harms Georgia’s Public School Students – Statement by IDRA and GYJC Opposing Senate Bill 233, March 20, 2024

Enrich Students’ Education Through Public School Investments – IDRA Testimony against HB 1, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Select Committee on Educational Enrichment and Opportunity, November 9, 2023

HB 1 Poses a Threat to Public Education in Texas and to Our Most Vulnerable Students – TLEEC Testimony Against HB 1, submitted by Rebekah Skelton to the Texas House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment, November 9, 2023

Private Texans Want Public Funds Kept in Public Schools – IDRA Testimony against HB 100 (Voucher), submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, May 22, 2023 – See video

IDRA Quality Schools Action Framework Provides a Guide to Achieve Equal Educational Opportunity for All Students – IDRA comments on Equal Educational Opportunity, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment, July 3, 2023

Texas Has Alternatives to Recapture Discounts to Keep Equitable Funding in Schools – IDRA Testimony against HB 3028, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, April 20, 2023

Private School Voucher Programs Disempower Parents – IDRA Testimony against HB 4807, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas House Public Education Committee, April 11, 2023

Education Savings Accounts Are Inefficient, Ineffective and Unaccountable to Texas Students – IDRA Testimony against SB 8, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 22, 2023

Parents Are Disempowered by Private School Voucher Programs – IDRA Testimony against SB 176, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Texas Senate Education Committee, March 22, 2023

New Charters Must Still Be Accountable to the State Board of Education and Communities, IDRA testimony against Senate Bill 28, submitted by Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., to the Senate Education Committee, March 25, 2021

Joint Statement: Increase the Transparency and Efficiency of Charter Schools in Texas

Texas: Joint legislative agenda to make every dollar count for all Texas students, signed by IDRA and 20 other education and policy organizations, January 2021

TLEC Testimony, Is Texas Getting a Good Return on Charter Schools?, Presented before the House Public Education Committee (Special Session), August 8, 2017

Statement: Vouchers: Unwise, Unworkable & Unfair

Education Policy