Public School Funding in Texas: What Would it Take To Be Average?

Texas’ $2.6 trillion economy is larger than Russia, Canada, Italy and other countries, and Texas is touted as having the 8th largest economy in the world

• Source: Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Top Texas Touts

46th in per-pupil spending in the Nation – Texas continues to rank in the bottom 10 states nationally for state spending on education, trailing the national average by over $4,400 per student 

• Source: National Education Association. Rankings of the States. April 2024. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank 

Texas is #1 in: 

Oil and Gas, Wind Power Production, Cattle Production, Cotton Production and Wool Production 

• Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association

Aerospace Innovation 

• Source: NASA

Fortune 500 Companies 

• As of the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, Texas has over 50 Fortune 500 companies, the most of any state in the U.S.

Fastest-Growing Cities in the US 

• Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Medical Center Size

• Source: Texas Medical Center: “The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical center in the world, hosting 10 million patients annually.”

Cross-Border Trade

• Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

By the Numbers: 

• Nearly 243,000 children attend pre-K in Texas public schools, more than any other state in the U.S.
  • Source: nieer.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/Texas_PR_2023_0.pdf 
• Texas has over 900,000 rural students in K-12 education, representing about 37% of the state’s student population. This is more than any other state in the country.
  • Source: www.greatertexasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Brief-Rural.pdf
• At the same time, Texas has 17 school districts that educate more than 50,000 people. This is 1,414,000, or 25.62%, of the student population. 
  • Source: https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_school_districts_in_Texas
  • Note: After printing, it was noted that Texas has 16 ISDs with student populations over 50,000. This will be updated on the next printing of this publication.
• Texas is home to 43 of the nation’s 200 largest school districts–dramatically more than any other state.
  • Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Largest_school_districts_in_the_United_States_by_enrollment 
• The nation’s future workforce is here – 10% of all public school students attend public school here in Texas. 
  • Source: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_203.30.asp
• Texas scores above the national average on NAEP in math and just below the national average on reading, but we are 46th in the nation in per-student funding. Most states scoring in the top 10 on NAEP spend more than $5,000 to $10,000 more per student.