Texas leader demolishes argument that public schools are underfunded, noting half of state budget goes to education

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick this week revealed how much of Texas’s budget goes to education, dispelling the myth that public schools are underfunded.

“We spend one out of every $2 on public education and higher education,” Patrick told CBS Texas on Monday. “Fifty percent of our budget is on education.”

During 2018-19, Texas’ department of education received $95 billion in state funds, more than 60% of the state budget. And state lawmakers approved major increases to school budgets this year – “somewhere of a 14 to 18% increase in funding just this session,” Patrick added.

Education funding has been a hot topic nationwide as public school activists erroneously claim school choice programs are defunding public schools.

In Texas, school districts are even willing to decline increased funding to prevent school choice from being enacted.

“We’re not interested in compromising for vouchers to gain school funding,” said Christopher Moran, superintendent of Whitehouse Independent School District. “This is a hill that we’re willing to die on.” 

Back in January, a teachers’ union boss even claimed the Texas Legislature was “starving us to death” by “trying to privatize our schools.” 

But what are the facts?  

Through a combination of local, state and federal funding, the state’s K-12 schools get over $13,500 per student on average. Yet the average private school tuition in Texas is less than $11,000 – meaning it would actually be cheaper to pay for private school tuition on average than to fund public schools. 

When asked about the alleged underfunding, Patrick argued that districts have mismanaged funds.  

“We have 1,200 school districts. I don’t know about every district, but a lot of them spent their money they got during COVID and they hired people with it, even though it was one-time money,” Patrick told CBS.  

Schools around the nation have long been hiring staff – particularly administrative staff – at disproportionate rates to student population. Between 1950 and 2019, the number of students increased 100%. Meanwhile, the teaching population grew 243% and other staff exploded by 709%.  

“Other staff” includes roles such as administrators, nurses, social workers, psychologists, librarians, custodians, security or food service personnel.