Public Education In Texas

K-12 education in Texas

Education facts

State superintendent: Mike Morath

Number of students: 5,156,972

Number of teachers: 344,362

Teacher/pupil ratio: 1:14.9

Number of school districts: 1,022

Number of schools: 8,161

Graduation rate: 90%

Per-pupil spending: $10,342

See also

Texas Department of Education • List of school districts in Texas • Texas • School boards portal

Public education in the United States Public education in Texas Glossary of education terms

Note: These statistics are mainly from government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures given were the most recent as of October 2022.

The Texas public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2022, Texas had 5,156,972 students enrolled in a total of 8,161 schools in 1,022 school districts. There were 344,362 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. In 2020, Texas spent on average $10,342 per pupil.^[1] The state's graduation rate was 90 percent in the 2018-2019 school year.^[2]

General information[edit]

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Texas compares to the national level for the most recent years for which data is available.

Academic performance[edit]

The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores[edit]

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma), students in Texas had the highest scores in nearly every category, falling behind only Oklahoma in fourth-grade reading.^[3]

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores[edit]

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Texas and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.^[3][4][5]

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.^[6]

Texas schools reported a graduation rate of 88 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, highest among its neighboring states

In Texas, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1437.

Dropout rate[edit]

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Texas was lower than the national average at 2.4 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.^[7]

Educational choice options[edit]

See also: School choice in Texas

As of June 2015, school choice options in Texas included charter schools, inter-district and intra-district open enrollment policies and online learning programs. In addition, about 5.14 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-2012 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-2013.

Developments[edit]

Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)[edit]

Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
Media coverage and commentary
U.S. Supreme Court 2019-2020 term
Blaine Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
Blaine amendments in state constitutions
School choice on the ballot
Education on the ballot

See also: Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which concerned whether the government can exclude religious institutions from student-aid programs. The case related to Article X, Section 6 of the Montana Constitution, also known as Montana’s Blaine Amendment.^[8]

In its 5-4 opinion, the court held that the application of Article X, Section 6 violated the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution. The majority held Article X, Section 6 barred religious schools and parents who wished to send their children to those schools from receiving public benefits because of the religious character of the school.^[9]

The case addressed the tension between the free exercise and Establishment clauses of the U.S. Constitution—where one guarantees the right of individuals' free exercise of religion and the other guarantees that the state won't establish a religion—and the intersections of state constitutions with state law and with the U.S. Constitution.

Texas is one of the states with a Blaine Amendment.

Education funding and expenditures[edit]

See also: Texas state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2013
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), states spent an average of 19.8 percent of their total budgets on elementary and secondary education during fiscal year 2013. In addition, the United States Census Bureau found that approximately 45.6 percent of the country's school system revenue came from state sources, while about 45.3 percent came from local sources. The remaining portion of school system revenue came from federal sources.^[10][11]

Texas spent approximately 27.4 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education during fiscal year 2013. School system revenue came primarily from local funds. Texas spent a greater percentage of its total budget on public education than any of its neighboring states.

Revenue breakdowns[edit]

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S. to compare all states.

According to the United States Census Bureau, public school system revenues totaled approximately $598 billion in fiscal year 2013.^[11]

In Texas, the primary source of school system revenue was local funding during fiscal year 2013, at about $25 billion. Texas reported significantly higher total public education revenue than any of its neighboring states.

Expenditure breakdowns[edit]

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures totaled approximately $602 billion in fiscal year 2012.^[12]

Public education expenditures in Texas totaled approximately $50 billion in fiscal year 2012. Texas reported significantly higher total public education expenditures than any of its neighboring states.

Personnel salaries[edit]

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Texas, the average salary decreased by 6.3 percent.^[14]

Organizations[edit]

State agencies[edit]

See also: Texas Education Agency

The mission statement of the Texas Education Agency reads:^[15]

The Texas Education Agency is led by the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education is appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate.

The Texas State Board of Education is responsible for overseeing the state's public education system. The board is composed of 15 members elected from districts. Members serve four-year terms.^[17]

Unions[edit]

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Texas ranked 44th overall for union power and influence, or "weakest," which was in the fifth of five tiers.^[18]

Government sector lobbying[edit]

See also: Texas government sector lobbying

Taxpayer-funded lobbyists for the state public schools include

• Texas School Alliance
• Texas Association of Community Schools

School official lobbyists include the Texas Association of School Business Officials and Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.

Lobbies concerned with school administrators and school boards include the Texas Association of School Boards and Texas Association of School Administrators.

Transparency[edit]

The state's official spending transparency database, which includes information pertaining to public schools, can be accessed here.^[19]

Studies and reports[edit]

Quality Counts 2014[edit]

See also: Education Week survey

Education Week, a publication that reports on many education issues throughout the country, began using an evaluation system in 1997 to grade each state on various elements of education performance. This system, called Quality Counts, uses official data on performance from each state to generate report cards for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report card in 2014 uses six different categories:

1. Chance for success
2. K-12 achievement
3. Standards, assessments and accountability
4. The teaching profession
5. School finance
6. Transitions and alignment

Each of these six categories had a number of other elements that received individual scores. Those scores were then averaged and used to determine the final score in each category. Every state received two types of scores for each of the six major categories: A numerical score out of 100 and a letter grade based on that score. Education Week used the score for the first category, "chance for success," as the value for ranking each state and the District of Columbia. The average grade received in the entire country was 77.3, or a C+ average. The country's highest average score was in the category of "standards, assessments and accountability" at 85.3, or a B average. The lowest average score was in "K-12 achievement", at 70.2, or a C- average.

Texas received a score of 73.0, or a C average in the "chance for success" category. This was below the national average. The state's highest score was in "transitions and alignment" at 92.9, or an A average. The lowest score was in "school finance" at 67.3, or a D+ average. Texas had the ninth lowest score in the "school finance" category in the country. The chart below displays the scores of Texas and its surrounding states.^[20]

Note: Click on a column heading to sort the data.

State Budget Solutions education study[edit]

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

Issues[edit]

Home-rule effort in Dallas[edit]

Volunteers with a local group called Support Our Public Schools circulated petitions starting on March 4, 2014, to turn the Dallas Independent School District into a home-rule district. A state law passed in 1995 allows local residents to replace their existing district structure with a home-rule charter. This charter could bypass some state regulations including minimum salary schedules for teachers, curriculum standards and the number of days in a school year. On January 20, 2015, a commission voted 10-5 against granting Dallas a home-rule charter.^[21] Commission members had until June 2015 to develop a home-rule charter for the district. If approved by the Texas Commissioner of Education, voters would have approved or rejected the charter at the polls. State law requires a simple majority and at least 25 percent of registered voters to cast ballots in the charter election.^[22]

Support Our Public Schools was a group funded by former hedge fund manager John Arnold and several anonymous donors through his nonprofit organization, the Action Now Initiative. Arnold worked with local officials, including board member Mike Morath, to form the group due to concerns about the district's record of academic performance. Morath supported Support Our Public Schools but did not serve on the group's board.^[23] The organization hoped to complete the entire process in time for the gubernatorial election on November 4, 2014. If successful, Dallas Independent School District would have been the first school district in Texas to use the home-rule charter process.^[22]

Support Our Public Schools submitted more than 48,000 petition signatures to the school district in May 2014. District officials certified that enough valid signatures were submitted to proceed to the next step in the process.^[24][8] The group had to gather at least 24,459 valid signatures, or five percent of registered voters in the district, to force the creation of a charter commission by the school board. School board members appointed 15 members to the charter commission during a meeting on June 19, 2014.^[25]

Two members of the commission were selected by the entire board, four educators were selected by an advisory panel and each trustee selected one commission member. D. Marcus Ranger, the husband of former trustee Carla Ranger, and Lew Blackburn, Jr., the son of trustee Lew Blackburn Sr., were appointed to the commission. The state's home-rule charter law does not restrict spouses or relatives of current board members from serving on commissions. An article published following the failure of the home-rule effort noted that eight of the nine Dallas board members opposed the initiative, which Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings suggested resulted in anti-initiative appointees. Commission chairman Bob Weiss rejected this argument and stated, "I certainly respect the mayor’s point of view but will politely disagree with the inference that the process was doomed because the commission did not act in good faith. This commission was not responsible for the appointment process."^[21]

The following table details the charter commission, including how they were appointed:^[25]

Local officials and advocates debated the group's efforts during the petition drive. Mayor Rawlings supported the effort in order to bring change to the district while board members Lew Blackburn and Bernadette Nutall questioned the motivations of Support Our Public Schools. Superintendent Mike Miles neither endorsed nor rejected the movement but argued the home-rule effort was unnecessary since the district had already initiated reforms.^[26] Alliance-AFT president Rena Honea argued that this effort was "part of a plan to underfund our schools, declare them a failure, and contract out to private operators the control of our neighborhood schools, disenfranchising parents and community stakeholders and de-professionalizing teaching."^[22][27]

Mark Melton, a local attorney and charter supporter, published a seven-page constitution in May 2014 intended to guide the charter commission. This constitution developed by Melton and four colleagues would have left the district largely unchanged. The document proposed a three-term limit on all board members, a provision for recalling board members and an earlier start date for district schools. Melton's proposal would have allowed a recall election to take place if 15 percent of residents in a trustee district signed petitions. He offered the proposals as a reaction to the rancorous debate taking place between Support Our Public Schools volunteers and some district residents.^[8]

School districts[edit]

See also: School board elections portal

District types[edit]

Texas contains multiple types of school districts. Independent school districts administer K-12 schools separately from municipal and county governments. Consolidated school districts are typically formed when two or more school districts combine into a single governing body.^[28]

School board composition[edit]

Texas school board members are generally elected by residents of the school district, although some school board members are appointed to fill vacancies until the next election for the seat is held. Texas school board elections typically follow one of these three methods, or a mixture thereof:^[29]

• At-large: All voters residing in the school district may vote for any candidates running, regardless of geographic location.
• Trustee area: Only voters residing in a specific geographic area within the school district may vote on certain candidates, who must also reside in that specific geographic area.
• Trustee area at-large: All voters residing in the school district may vote for any candidates running, but candidates must reside in specific geographic areas within the school district.

School boards can consists of five, seven or nine members. Board members serve terms of three or four years.^[29]

Term limits[edit]

Texas does not impose statewide term limits on school board members. However, terms limits on school board members can still be imposed on the local level.^[29]

Elections[edit]

See also: Texas school board elections, 2025

The table below contains links to all school board elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2025 in this state. This list may not include all school districts that held elections in 2025. Ballotpedia's coverage included all school districts in the 100 largest cities by population and the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment.

Editor's note: Some school districts choose to cancel the primary election, or both the primary and general election, if the number of candidates who filed does not meet a certain threshold. The table below does not reflect which primary or general elections were canceled. Please click through to each school district's page for more information.

Path to the ballot[edit]

To qualify for the ballot as a school board candidate in Texas, a person must be:^[30]

• 18 years of age or older
• A registered voter
• A resident of the district for at least six months prior to the election

Candidates file applications for placement on the ballot with the school district clerk.

Campaign finance[edit]

Candidates can claim exemption from campaign finance reporting requirements if they do not anticipate spending or receiving $500 during the election. If they receive or spend in excess of $500, they must file amended paperwork with the school district clerk detailing contributions and expenditures.^[30]

Recent legislation[edit]

The following is a list of recent education bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Texas state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Education ballot measures[edit]

See also: Education on the ballot and List of Texas ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked the following statewide ballot measures relating to education.

1. Texas Proposition 1, Angelo State University Governance Amendment (2007)
2. Texas Proposition 2, Educational Loan Bonds Amendment (August 1991)
3. Texas Proposition 13, Bonds for Educational Loans Amendment (1999)
4. Texas Proposition 1, Bonds for Educational Loans Amendment (1995)
5. Texas Proposition 4, National Research University Fund Amendment (2009)
6. Texas Education Loans Finance Amendment, Proposition 3 (2011)
7. Texas Proposition 6, Permanent School Fund Amendment (2011)
8. Texas Proposition 13, Donation of School District Property Amendment (2001)
9. Texas Proposition 2, Higher Education Assistance Fund Amendment (1984)
10. Texas Proposition 2, Tax Exemptions for Higher Education Amendment (1906)
11. Texas Proposition 1, School District Bonds Amendment (August 1909)
12. Texas Proposition 2, School District Boundaries Amendment (August 1909)
13. Texas Proposition 4, County Student Loan Fund Amendment (July 1915)
14. Texas Proposition 6, Separation of University of Texas and Agricultural College Amendment (July 1915)
15. Texas Proposition 2, Property Tax for Schools Amendment (1918)
16. Texas Proposition 2, Special School Districts Amendment (1926)
17. Texas Proposition 1, Appointment of the State Board of Education Amendment (1928)
18. Texas Proposition 2, School Officer Term Limits Amendment (1928)
19. Texas Proposition 4, Free Textbooks Amendment (August 1935)
20. Texas Proposition 2, Salaries for Military Officers Amendment (1942)
21. Texas Proposition 2, State Medical Education Fund Amendment (1952)
22. Texas Proposition 6, Student Loans and the Texas Opportunity Plan Fund Amendment (1965)
23. Texas Proposition 3, Arlington State College Amendment (1966)
24. Texas Student Loans Funding Amendment (August 1969)
25. Texas Proposition 4, Education Constitutional Provisions Amendment (1975)
26. Texas Proposition 21, College Savings Bonds Amendment (1989)
27. Texas Proposition 13, Bonds for Educational Loans Amendment (1991)
28. Texas Proposition 2, Bonds for Educational Loans Amendment (2007)
29. Texas Homestead Exemption for School District Property Taxes Amendment, Proposition 1 (2015)
30. Texas Proposition 5, Rename State University Research Fund and Establish Ongoing Revenue Source Amendment (2023)
31. Texas Proposition 2, Investment of the Permanent University Fund Amendment (1930)
32. Texas Proposition 8, Investment of University Funds Amendment (1932)
33. Texas Proposition 3, Building Construction at John Tarleton Agricultural College Amendment (1942)
34. Texas Proposition 1, Building Construction for John Tarleton Agricultural College Amendment (1946)
35. Texas Proposition 13, Independent School District Taxes and Bonds Amendment (1962)
36. Texas Proposition 14, County Permanent School Fund Amendment (1972)
37. Texas Proposition 1, Permanent School Fund Transfer Amendment (1964)
38. Texas Proposition 1, Improvements for Institutions of Higher Education Amendment (1965)
39. Texas Proposition 4, Land for Permanent School Fund Amendment (1985)
40. Texas Proposition 1, Board of Regents Terms of Office Amendment (1912)
41. Texas Proposition 12, State Employees as Consultants, Advisors, or Members of School Boards Amendment (1962)
42. Texas Proposition 5, Transferring Monies from the Permanent School Fund Amendment (August 1891)

In the news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Texas education policy. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also[edit]

• Historical public education information in Texas
• Texas state budget and finances
• Texas Department of Education
• List of school districts in Texas
• School choice in Texas
• Charter schools in Texas
• Texas
• Education Policy in the U.S.

External links[edit]

• Texas Education Agency
• Texas State Board of Education

Additional reading[edit]

• Longview News-Journal, "School districts mull faculty salary scales," June 30, 2009
• The Dallas Morning News, "ACLU questions religious freedom violations in more Texas schools," June 26, 2009

Footnotes[edit]

	v • e State of Texas Austin (capital)
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