The biggest part of the problem is that the funding for education has not been increased in at least the last two legislative sessions. While this doesn't sound bad on the surface, even a simple knowledge of current events would indicate that inflation alone makes that amount insufficient.
Combine that with Prop 4 which passed in 2023. That cut 18 billion dollars from property taxes statewide, most of which went to school taxes. That funding wasn't replaced.
Enrollments in schools are falling, particularly in larger or inner city school districts as well. The funding "model" is based upon per student attendance.
All of that combined with the political leadership in Austin that would rather burn down the existing system completely rather than not get their way on vouchers means that schools are facing real and significant shortfalls in funding.
Districts can't do anything about this, either. Nearly every district in Texas is at the maximum allowable taxrate of 1.04 per $1000 valuation. That means legally they can't raise taxes - all they can do is gently encourage the appraisal districts to raise valuations of the property in the district. That's why if you don't have a homestead exemption, you might see your appraisal jump even up to 40% in a year these days.
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