School Financial Reform Case Study

In the mind of modern America, education and economics come hand in hand. For over a decade, the citizens of Texas and the state government alike have spoken their views on how to find an equal balance between these two notions. The issue stems from economic disparities between the varying classes in Texas society, resulting in inadequate resources for poorer school districts and below average conditions for underprivileged students. In an effort to level the educational playing field, the implementation of school finance reform sparked an era of controversy. Concern for this predicament proved to be more prevalent in Texas than in any other state. Due to its vast geographic area and diverse population variance, Texas maintains the greatest discrepancy between average household income and district revenue. By no surprise, a direct relationship existed between the performance of students and the wealth of their district. Under-staffed and under-funded, the
On one hand, some argue that the main purpose of the Robin Hood refinancing program has been fulfilled – deeming it successful in substantially equalizing a significant percentage of Texas school district’s spending per student. Investigation by the Texas Center for Education Research and Texas Association of School Boards has concluded that after the reform, “90 percent of students in Texas are in school systems with roughly equal wealth and 99 percent of the revenue in the system has been redistributed to make it more equal.” Joe Wisnosky, a Texas Education Agency (TEA) spokesman, asserted that although the recovered revenue from the equalization procedure funded low-wealth districts across the state with an approximate total of $522 million each year, “the plan has been successful in bringing the property wealth of wealthy districts down [but] has been less successful in bringing the wealth of poor districts