Houston, We Have a Problem…

HISD spends roughly $9,491.90 per student on average across their school district. They are a C-rated school according to the State Accountability Report. El Paso, an A-rated school, get’s $13,534.29 per capita (about). Brazos Port ISD gets $32,148.89 per student.

Yet Governor Abbot will tell you that it’s the fault of the leadership within the school district that is the reason why HISD has been underperforming since 2016.

Further, consider this: if you download the Texas State Accountability Report (like we did), then you’ll learn that SB1365 schools are exempt. Why? Because those are disaster declared impacted school districts. But also, if you’re not careful, you’ll overlook the SB1882 schools, which are not graded as part of the State Summary because they have opted to form partnerships with charter schools. A “partnership” means that the charter school takes over and runs the administration of the school. So less a partnership, and more a private take-over instead of a state take-over.

So, less accountability in the private sector, and underfunding of public schools paints an interesting picture, doesn’t it? It’s kind of like the Texas government is setting up incentives to change public schools to private schools. Almost.

You decide.

https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/accountability/academic-accountability/performance-reporting/2022-accountability-rating-system

https://fortworthreport.org/2022/12/13/explainer-how-are-texas-schools-funded/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0vWbtoHp_QIV5xWtBh3YAQa-EAAYAiAAEgJ6t_D_BwE

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/senate-bill-1365-explanatory-document.pdf

1882 Schools: https://txpartnerships.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Current-Texas-Partnerships-Sept-2022.pdf

Texas Permanent School Fund: https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/texas-permanent-school-fund