Texas Democrats know that our public schools are the lifeblood of our communities, and that without funding they can’t thrive. Texas Democrats will FIGHT to ensure that public schools and teachers have the funding and support they need.
What would Texas be like without the Friday night lights of a hometown football game in the fall? What if we had no football games. No band practice. No cheerleaders. Texas public schools are more than just a place where students go to learn. They are the the lifeblood of our communities, and if we don’t provide adequate funding and support for our public schools, our children and our communities will suffer for it.
- Education should be a public good, not a commodity.
- Your tax dollars belong in your Texas public schools in your community.
- Texas teachers are not paid adequately and do not have the support they need.
- Rural schools and minorities suffer when public schools do not have adequate funding or support.
- Standardized testing is hurting our public schools.
Facts about Texas Public Schools
- Texas received an “F” mark from the Southern Poverty Law Center for its funding level of $11,987 per student, which was $3,127 the national average of $15,114. Source: Spectrum News
- Texas ranks 43rd lowest in the nation for veteran teacher pay. Source: Houston Public Media
- A Texas Parent PAC poll of likely Texas voters found that 53% of Texas likely voters are against taxpayer-funded private school vouchers when hearing vouchers mean less money for their local public schools. Majorities of Texans also are concerned that charter schools take money from local public schools (76%) and that charter school teachers do not need to be certified to teach (80%). Source: Texas AFT
- A recent survey of Texas teachers found that 66% of teachers are considering leaving the profession. Source: Texas AFT
Additional Resources
Southern Poverty Law Center: Inequity in School Funding
National Education Association: Educator Pay and Student Spending: How does your state rank?
Raise Your Hand Texas: Here is Where We Stand on Public School Funding
Texas 2036: Future-Proofing Texas School Funding
Texas Education Agency Office of School Finance: Texas Public School Finance Overview
Laws and Initiatives that Texas Democrats Support
- Putting more money into our kids’ classrooms and rejecting any effort to take your public tax dollars out of your schools
- Raising teacher pay, strengthening health care and retirement benefits, and treating teachers with the respect they deserve.
- Ending Texas’s over-reliance on high-stakes standardized testing
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