When I was elected to the Wimberley ISD Board of Trustees in 2018, I did so with the aim of helping to provide the optimal learning environment for Wimberley students. I knew there would be a series of “asks” that I would have to make as I joined the Board. I’d have to ask myself for a time and energy commitment to serve. My fellow trustees and I would have to ask each other for a strong level of trust and dedication. I would have to ask our Superintendent for an amount of accountability required to guide our district. However, one request I never anticipated making is to urge the State Legislature to boost funding for public schools.
Our Board is advocating for an increase in public school funding in part with a resolution that we approved in our March meeting. It calls on Texas legislators to fulfill their constitutional requirements and act in the best interest of WISD students, staff, and families by adequately funding the state’s public schools.
During its last session, the state legislature had a historic budget surplus of nearly $33 billion, which included approximately $4 billion in new funding designated for education spending. However, due to a state tug-of-war on education issues centered around a debate on whether to use public dollars to fund private school vouchers, none of that earmarked funding made its way to where it can actually help - to the campuses and classrooms where Texas’s future is being educated.
For WISD, the financial challenges are exacerbated by the state’s education funding redistribution program, commonly referred to as Chapter 49 or Robinhood. The program requires districts designated as “property- rich” to send a portion of local tax revenue back to the state. For WISD, that amount was approximately $9 million last year. In principle, one could argue that the program has its merits - distributing state wealth to districts with less resources - but with the state of Texas sitting on its hands, that money isn’t helping anyone. It’s only growing in the state’s coffers, not benefiting students, certainly not in WISD. To put it plainly, some of the WISD taxpayer funds intended for public education are not actually being provided to our local schools or any public schools.
I believe it’s incomprehensible and highly inappropriate that our state leadership would boast about a record budget surplus while continuing to underfund public schools in a manner that has caused an unprecedented number of school districts across Texas to operate with deficit budgets. Our school leadership is being forced to pinch every penny, implement unfunded and underfunded mandates from the state, and absorb positions. Meanwhile, the state enjoys record economic prosperity. It’s infu riating, and our students and teachers deserve better.
For WISD, another financial challenge is the state’s outdated per-student funding system. Since 2019, the Texas Legislature hasn’t changed the amount of money it distributes to districts per student, yet the inflationary costs to educate those students have risen exponentially. Fuel, utilities, insurance, safety requirements, election fees, and appraisal district costs have all risen. In an analysis by WISD, the district’s costs in these areas alone have increased approximately $800,000 since the last per-student adjustment by the state. Of course, this figure does not include teacher and district staff pay increases implemented in the previous six years to help employees keep pace with the inflation in their own lives.
The resolution points out that the district has prioritized empowering student excellence, supporting faculty and staff excellence, strengthening community excellence, and ensuring operational excellence. However, the efforts to reach those goals are hampered by the state’s inaction. We write it plainly in the resolution: We believe a direct correlation exists between the Texas economy’s strength and a successful public school system. But for these systems to work as they’re meant to, our state leaders need to step up, unite, cross the aisle, and advocate for all public education students in Texas.
The WISD resolution proposes a starting point for legislators: Increasing the basic allotment (per-student funding) and establishing a mechanism for automatic, inflation-adjusted increases to the basic allotment every biennium.
Right now, their lack of action leads me to conclude that taking a fresh look at public school funding is the proverbial can that gets kicked down the hill. It is also a political hot potato, and our legislators fear upsetting their constituents by being on the “wrong side” of the issue. This reality is sad. It’s time for change.
By Dr. Rob Campbell, Wimberley ISD Board President
Letters to the Editor are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the newspaper.
