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Education Policy in Texas
Providing an adequate, free public education to the residents of Texas has been a constitutional
mandate for the state government since the beginning. However, there hasn’t always been enough
political support, tax money, or governmental will to see to it that Texans are well-educated and wellprepared for the changing economic and social environments that they are living in.
We must remember that providing education was not always a state responsibility. In the United
States, the free public education movement did not begin in earnest until the late 1830s, and even
then only spread sporadically and slowly across the US from New England, westward and southward.
It was not uncommon to find schools that were considered “public,” but that also charged tuition and
had some standards for admission, similar to public universities and colleges today.
Some basic questions that have guided public school development over the last couple of centuries,
(according to https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/a-relevant-history-of-public-education-in-theunited-states), include:
 What is the primary purpose of public education?
 Who should be able to receive the educational services provided to the general public?
 How does the government ensure consistently high quality in the educational services it provides?
Each state in the United States has basically been left to itself to answer these questions, and how the
states answer them is often a reflection of their various cultural heritages and government traditions.
Here, in Texas, these questions will be answered differently than they would be in New England or in
Nebraska, or in California, etc. We will explore below how the state has attempted to answer these
questions and evaluate whether or not the state has succeeded in answering them adequately.
Objectives (After these lessons, you should be able to):
1. Describe the history of public education in Texas
2. Identify various points of success or failure in Texas education policy
3. Identify, describe, and evaluate historical policy milestones in Texas education
4. Assess the validity of Texas’ leaders’ claims that education can be reduced to a business and
run as such for the sake of business interests
 The History of Education in Texas:
 Republic of Texas (1836-1845)
• Constitution of the Republic of Texas establishes public schools (Congress was required to
establish and fund a system of education)
• Texas’ second president, Mirabeau B. Lamar, advocates for public education, each county
given 4 leagues of land for schools (between 1839-40), and 50 leagues are set aside for a
public university
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Congress was unable to and thus did not fund those schools
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“There was no sentiment in the Republic of Texas for school taxation….. Any attempt at this
time to establish public free schools…would have been condemned as tyranny.” –C.E. Evans,
Texas Historian
• Texans would resent having to pay taxes to support educating other people’s
children
• Remember Texas’ own individualistic cultural heritage—pull yourselves up by your
own bootstraps; government shouldn’t have to do it for you.
 1845 Statehood
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“A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and
liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to make suitable
provisions for the support and maintenance of public schools.”—1845 constitution
• Constitution also called for a statewide property tax to fund schools, and an annual
appropriation of 10% from general state revenues to finance the Permanent School Fund
• Texas courts eventually determine that… “the assessment of general taxes for education” is
unconstitutional
• Few public schools actually built or activated until the 1850s
 1854—Governor Elisha M. Pease and the Establishment of Texas Public Schools
• Public school bill establishing $2 million “Special School Fund” to pay for operating costs and
teacher salaries (This was 20% of the money Texas received as compensation for its lands
north and west of its present boundaries as a result of the Compromise of 1850).
• Distribution of funds based on an annual school census
• $0.62 per student in 1854
• $1.50 per student in 1855
• Tuition was charged for public schools to cover gaps between costs and available funds
• Parents given options about using their share of state funds to send children to private
schools or join with other parents to start their own schools
 1866 Constitution (Remember, this one did not last very long)
• Allowed for segregated public schools
• Black schools allowed to be funded only from funds generated taxes paid by black parents
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US Congress rejected the constitution of Texas
• Freedman’s Bureau established 66 schools for blacks in Texas
• White violence toward black students remained a threat
 1869 Constitution (Reconstruction; Gov. E.J. Davis)
• First mandatory school attendance policy in Texas
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Did not go over well with Texans
Children were needed on farms/ranches, especially after end of slavery
• Mandatory schooling took children away from their work
Public schools financed by state land revenues, property taxes, poll taxes, and other general
revenues
Freedman’s Bureau ceased operating schools in 1871
• 125,000 black and white kids enrolled in state public schools
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White parents bitter at having to pay taxes to educate black childr
 1875 Constitution
• “All funds, lands and other property heretofore set apart and appropriated for the support
of public schools; all the alternate sections of land reserved by the state of grants heretofore
made or that may hereafter be made to railroads, or other corporations, of any nature
whatsoever; one half of the public domain of the state, and all sums of money that may
come to the state from the sale of any portion of the same shall constitute a perpetual
public school fund.”
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Decentralization of the public school system—emphasis placed on local control
“A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and
rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature … to establish and make suitable
provision for…an efficient system of free public schools.”—Article I, sec. 3
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Up to ¼ of the state occupation tax revenues could be used for public education
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No money beyond a $1 poll tax was required to be used for education
Texas governors often refused to sign appropriations for schools that used the full
25% of available tax revenues
• “Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and impartial provision
shall be made for both.”—Article VII, sec. 7
 Urban vs. Rural at the turn of the 20th century
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c. 1900
• Average urban school year: 162 days
• Average rural school year: 98 days
• Average urban per student expenses: $8.35
• Average rural per student expenses: $3.34
• Little more than “functional literacy” was provided (reading, writing, arithmetic; often
taught by young, single females in a one-room schoolhouse; almost ½ of Texas teachers
were without a high school diploma, themselves, and only about 5% had earned a college
degree.)
 Slow changes
• Several teachers’ colleges established across the state between 1899 and 1917, including
what would eventually become Texas State University, University of North Texas, Sam
Houston State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, West Texas A&M University,
Texas A&M—Commerece, Sul Ross State University, etc.)
• After 1884, independent school districts begin to be established
• 1911—establishment of county school boards/rural high schools/consolidation of common
school districts; state begins to expand its support for rural schools to try to equalize them
with the urban/independent school districts
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1915: Adoption of compulsory attendance law (the second to last state to do so)
• 60 day school year for 1916-1917
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80 day school year for 1917-1918
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100 day school year for 1918-1919
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1917: Texas declines federal funds for helping to finance industrial arts and home economics
teachers; passes legislation authorizing distribution of free textbooks for public schools
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1918: Schools begin to provide textbooks to public school students
1919/20: Better Schools Amendment allows increases in local taxes for public schools;
creates further disparity between urban and rural schools, even while easing the state’s
burden of school funding
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1935: Total of 6,953 school districts across the state
• 5,938 rural/common districts with an average student population of 65
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1,015 ISDs with average student population of over 800
 Educational embarrassments
• 1930: Texas spending only 63% of national average on education, 73% of national average
by 1940
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World War II:
• Texas has a 23% military rejection rate for literacy (compared to 12% nationally)
• Other Southern states also experienced high rejection rates
• Reforms will happen in the late ‘40s, after the War is over
 1949: Gilmer-Aiken Laws
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Consolidation of school districts from 4,500 to 2,900 more efficient districts
Created an elected State Board of Education which would appoint the Commissioner of
Education
Established the Texas Education Agency to administer state public school policy
Established the Minimum Foundation Program
• Encourages consolidation and efficiency in public school districts
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Sets state-imposed minimum teacher pay
Establishes a mandatory 9-month school year
Equalizes school funding based on school attendance; incentivizes districts to
encourage attendance
Establishes a universal 12-grade system
Funding made mandatory to fulfill Minimum Foundation Program (prior to this, funding had
been discretionary)
 Strong conservative opposition to the reforms
• Opponents labeled the Gilmer-Aiken Laws “communistic”
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Most parents supported reforms, however
Proponents of Gilmer-Aiken Laws warned that if they did not pass, the federal government
would intrude
• “We don’t need [federal aid] and the federal money ought not to be taken into the
school system because control follows the tax dollar.”—Gov. Allen Shivers
• Note the anti-Washington sentiment even then was alive and well
Black area schools commonly had much shorter school years than white area schools,
especially given the agricultural economy; 1949 represented the first time the state would
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mandate blacks have equally as long school years as whites, providing them with better
educational opportunities
Fear that black school teachers would be paid the same or even more than white teachers
(based on seniority)
• Gilmer-Aiken Law required equal pay/same salary schedule for all teachers,
regardless of color
• Black salaries would actually double or even triple what they had been before
Gilmer-Aiken in some areas
 Segregation and desegregation
• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
• “All my instincts, my political philosophy, my experiences and my common sense
revolt against the Supreme Court decision. It is an unwarranted invasion of the
constitutional rights of the states…. My administration has already told the local
school districts that, as far as the state of Texas is concerned, there are no changes
to be made.”—Gov. Allen Shivers
• 1956: Only 65 school districts had integrated
• 1957: 69 more school districts had integrated
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• Resistance was heavy in the Dallas and Houston areas
• Resistance to integration was light in the Southern and Western parts of the state
Most areas of the state remained segregated until the late 1960s
1972: 92% of blacks in desegregated schools
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Legislature reacts to the desegregation fight by restricting state funding of public schools
Many whites move to the suburbs or enroll their kids in private schools
 1980s-Concern over performance
• Oil boom of the 1970s leads to oil bust of the 1980s and a recognition that Texas needs to
diversify its economy, but…
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Literacy rates had been declining for 20 years
Strong oil economy caused the state to put concerns about education on back
burner; state had lax school standards in the 1960s-70s
1981: Legislature mandates the creation of a state public school curriculum (it had been
solely a matter of local discretion prior to this)
1983: Gov. Mark White appoints a “Select Committee on Public Education,” names Ross
Perot as chair, to look into ways to improve the state’s education system; Speaker of the
House Gib Lewis (a Ft. Worth businessman, speaker from 1983-93) plays a significant role in
pushing for reform, especially since White only wanted teacher pay increases. This
represents the first signs of business’s direct involvement in the state’s education system.
• Perot reports back to the business community: “Look, y’all, if we don’t improve the
public schools, y’all aren’t going to have workers who are worth anything. Your
businesses will go to pot.”
• 1984: Special legislative session enacts reforms recommended by the Select
Committee
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Teacher competence and student learning become measurement tools
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 1980s Educational reforms—House Bill 72 passes in special legislative session in July 1984
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Increased teacher pay
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22:1 student to teacher ratio in K-4th grade classes
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Tied teacher salaries to student performance
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Tougher teacher credentialing standards and competency testing
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Stricter student attendance and promotion standards
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Abolishing social promotion
Standardized testing and necessary remediation for grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11
(Texas Educational Assessment of Minimal Skills or TEAMS Test adopted), with
passing the final/11th grade test a requirement for high school graduation
• “No pass, no play”—failure to earn a 70+ during any 6-week reporting period would
suspend students from participating in extracurricular activities; mandatory tutoring
 1989—Edgewood ISD vs. Kirby (After oil bust and subsequent collapse of the real estate market and
the S&L Scandal, there came a realization that there was no real equity in school funding)
• Challenges inequality in state’s method of funding public schools primarily through local
property taxes, as exemplified below with the comparison of these two neighboring San
Antonio-area ISDs:
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Edgewood ISD: $38,854 in property wealth per student
Alamo Heights ISD: $570,109 in property wealth per student
AHISD could charge a far lower property tax rate than EISD and still have more
money available than EISD would ever have
• Texas Supreme Court determines this inequality is unconstitutional and that the school
financing system is “neither financially efficient” nor satisfactory to provide “for a ‘general
diffusion of knowledge’ statewide”
 1993—“Robin Hood” Plan adopted (SB 7)
• Recapturing revenue from property wealthy districts and redistributing it to property poor
districts (e.g., state takes local property tax revenue from districts like AHISD and funnels
that revenue to property poor districts like EISD.)
• Property wealthier districts initially had to cut back on enrichment
programs/extracurriculars (sports, UIL competitions, fine arts education, gifted and talented
programs, AP programs, etc.) due to the state’s recapturing of their local property tax
revenues.
• Eventually, property wealthier districts grudgingly raised their property tax rates to be able
to continue to supply their students with the extras they had come to expect
• By 2003, 690 of the 1020 school districts in the state had neared or reached the lawful state
cap on property taxes, began to experience decline in revenues as expenses continued to
increase but they were barred from raising additional revenues
• The bill also created the state’s educational accountability system that will foreshadow the
federal No Child Left Behind under George W. Bush
 1995—SB 1 results in major overhaul of education system again
• Return of control to local districts
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Permission given to the SBOE to grant open-enrollment charter schools
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Teachers given permission to remove disruptive students from their classrooms
 End of Robin Hood
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2004: 300 school districts sue the state in the case West Orange-Cove CISD vs. Neeley
• Claimed that underfunded public education limited their ability to provide a
“general diffusion of knowledge within the state” as required by the constitution
• The school districts win the case in the state supreme court (Neeley v. West OrangeCove CISD, Dec. 2005)
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Legislature returns to the drawing board to find new way to pay for schools without having
to rely so much on recaptured funds from the “Robin Hood” program
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Creates the margins tax on new businesses
Raises cigarette taxes from 41 cents/pack to $1.41/pack
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Utilizes the Rainy Day Fund
 Funding nightmares
• In 1949, after Gilmer-Aiken Reforms: State revenue accounted for 80% of public school
funding
• Robin-Hood Era: State revenue accounted for 35% of public school funding
• 2005-present: State funding fluctuates; after 2019, expected that state revenue will increase
from 38% of total school funding to 45% of total school funding. This is still not as high as it
was (around 50%) immediately after the 2005 Neeley decision.
• Local districts fund about 45% of expenses (will be down from about 52% prior to
2019)
• Federal government consistently funds about 10% of expenses (mostly stuff like
special ed., food service, etc.)
 Texas in Comparison with other States
• “Texans value education in the abstract…. At the same time, Texans manifest a cultural
attitude that educators are incompetent, underworked, and wasteful of public funds. These
competing themes lead to a boom and bust cycle in education policy, years of ignoring
educational needs, followed by a sudden realization that problems have developed
requiring a massive infusion of funds.”—Gerry Riposa
 Texas in 1950
• Texas: $208.88 per student
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US: $208.83 per student
 Today, Texas averaging 86% of US national average
• We have been as high as 26th in the nation (1998)
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Generally, we’re in the 30s or 40s in the nation (lowest at 48th in 1972)
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Budgets continue to fall relative to inflation
• 2002: $8,366 per student
• 2011: $8,176 per student (after a severe round of budget cuts due to the Great
Recession)
• 2016: $9, 150 per student (36th in the US)
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 Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby on Texans’ attitudes:
• “A huge majority of public school students in Texas are…black and brown…. I think
Republicans don’t like public education because they are educating black children and
brown children.”
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2/3 of public school children are minority
• 50.3% Hispanic
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12.9% Black
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3.4% Asian
2% other
 $4 billion cut from state education budget in 2011; new funds added in 2019 ($6.5 billion)
 Minimum Foundation Program changed to discretionary spending in 2011; funding to be
determined each biennium
 Then-Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston): “I think it’s a change we needed as we move forward. We have
to have real cuts…. [This is] a true cut in an entitlement.” (during the 2011 legislative session.
Remember, this is the guy we elected lt. governor in 2014)
 2009: School Accountability Bill
• Retention of 4x4 high school curriculum (Math, Science, English, and Social Studies) and
foreign language requirements
• Elimination of the high school health education, computer technology, and one semester of
PE requirements
• “If a kid chooses a course, he or she is more likely to be interested in it and probably will do
better in it. That was one of the goals of the legislation, to make our course requirements a
little more market-friendly for students.” – Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands, Chair House
Education Committee)
• SBOE limited PE credits to 4 of possible 7 elective credits
 Texas and Federal Grant Money
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Texas leaders expected federal “Race to the Top” money, but…
Texas not willing to adopt federal educational standards
• “Texas is already ahead of most other states in setting college and career-ready
standards in our schools. The citizens of Texas, not the federal government, now
what is best for our children. As the federal government continues its sweeping
expansion of federal authority from the financial, energy, and health care systems, it
is now attempting to increase their intrusions into Texas classrooms.”—Gov. Rick
Perry
 Accountability--Testing
 Suspect educational assessment findings
• Texas has had several standardized testing regimes, but...
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None have existed long enough to gauge trends in student learning
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Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS ) 1979-1984, inaugurates age of
accountability; intended to measure students’ learning of the curriculum and
readiness for the workplace. Administered in grades 3, 5, and 9
Texas Educational Assessment of Minimal Skills (TEAMS)1984-1990; to be
administered in all odd-numbered grades; passing the exit test in 11th grade made a
requirement for high school graduation
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) 1991-2002; eliminated the 1st grade
test; still required 11th grade test for high school graduation; era of stricter
accountability begins as districts and schools are evaluated for student performance
on the TAAS test. Notice, too, the rigor increases from the TEAMS test (minimal
skills) to the TAAS test (academic skills).
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Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) 2003-2011; revised to meet the
expectations set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which required rating
schools based on assessments and dropout rates; science and social studies added
to the reading/writing/math testing regime; administered in all grades 3-11 in some
form or other; concerns about teaching to the test begin to be raised as the number
of subjects covered by the test increases; knowledge along with skills now covered
by the test
• State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR ) 2011-present; now
measuring academic readiness in all the same subjects as the TAKS; more rigorous
assessments; 12-course exit assessments required
• “If you wanted to make accurate assessment next to impossible, the best way to do it, short
of abandoning testing altogether, would be to frequently change the testing regime.”—Cal
Jillson
 Standardized tests test for competency, not mastery of the subject areas
 Accountability--Testing
 Failure rates for TAKS in 2010-11 were about 10% for high school seniors
 Total pass rates for TAKS in 2010: 77%
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White 87%
Black 66%
Hispanic 71%
 Graduation rates
 US National Population with High School Diploma, 2008:
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Total 85%
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White 90%
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Black 80%
Hispanic 61%
 Texas Population with High School Diploma, 2008:
• Total 79%
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White 91%
Black 83%
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Hispanic 57%
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 College ready?
 SAT Scores:
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58% of Texas seniors in class of 2011 took SAT
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Average score overall was 981
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White 1062
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Black 861
• Hispanic 902
US average SAT Scores in 2011
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Total 1011
White 1063
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Black 855
• Hispanic 913
 Fights over curriculum
 Religious and Ideological Battles
• Academic standards often take back seat to politically volatile social issues
• SBOE mandates that “strengths and weaknesses” of each theory be explored (e.g.,
challenges to Darwinian evolution)
• Social Studies education often scrutinized for its tendencies toward “radicalism”
(SBOE has attempted to remove figures such as Cesar Chavez and Thurgood
Marshall from the history curriculum)
• Sex education in Texas is abstinence only
• $18 billion per year
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Extraordinarily high teen pregnancy rates (3rd in the nation)