POLS 207- Public Education

State Power & Public Policy

States (not the federal gov’t) have the police power

• This is the broad power to make laws for the general welfare of their communities

10th Amendment clarifies that certain powers are reserved to the states (or the people)

• States have primary authority in regulating education, health, etc. & making criminal & civil law

Federal power in these areas comes from:

1. The interstate commerce clause

2. The taxing & spending power

Education and Role of Government

Education is also matter of national interest & import!

• International competitiveness, “soft power,” etc.

• Link b/t education & a free society

• Specifically cited as early as the Northwest Ordinance (1787)

What is the role of public schools?

• Acquiring general life skills?

• Becoming an economic contributor?

• Gaining civic & critical capacities?

• Accepting authority?

Different ideas of education articulate different visions of the role of the individual in society

Public Education in the States

Education is primarily a state & local responsibility

Role of states includes:

• Establishing schools & colleges

• Developing curricula

• Determining enrollment & graduation requirements

• Sharing responsibility for funding

The result is great variation at state & local Levels in both:

• Inputs: Teacher salaries & qualifications, funding, curricula, etc.

• Outputs: Dropout & graduations rates, standardized testing scores, college readiness, etc.

Federal Involvement in Education

Educational policy closely tracks trends & shifts in federalism

• Dual federalism

  • U.S. Office of Education (1867) & early grants in-aid

• Cooperative federalism

  • National School Lunch & Milk Program (1946)

  • National Defense Education Act (1958): Push for science & languages

• Centralized federalism

  • Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (1965)

  • Head Start (1965)

• New federalism

  • Education Consolidation & Improvement Act (1981): ESEA block grants

• Ad hoc federalism: Contemporary standards movement

U.S. Department of Education

Established in 1867 (as U.S. Office of Education)

• Key functions long tied to civil rights & educational equity

Principal responsibilities:

1. Distributes federal grants-in-aid to states

2. Ensures state adherence to federal civil rights laws

• E.g. American with Disabilities Act (ADA), Civil Rights Acts

3. Disbursement of federally-backed student loans

A “zombie agency”?

• Abolished by Executive Order by Pres. Trump in 2025

• However, cannot be formally abolished without act of Congress

• Yet, cuts leave agency unable to carry out core functions

Federalism & Education Policy

Ongoing debate b/t:

• Common, shared national standards

• State flexibility, traditional policy domains, states’ rights etc.

Common objections to federal involvement:

• One-size-fits all policy

• Too much federal encroachment

• Expense, difficulty of implementation & monitoring

• Who funds it?

• Is it an unfunded mandate? Underfunded?

• Who has oversight?

Many Issues in Public Education

• Assessing quality of K-12 public education systems is a

frequent objective

• How much & how fairly do states fund?

• How many graduates & dropouts result?

• Other issues also worthy of hard questions include:

• Standardized testing as a measure of learning & progress

• Pros & cons of traditional & alternative schooling models

• E.g. Charter schools, magnet schools

• Other facets of school funding:

• Performance-based funding: Schools w/ higher marks get more

Vouchers: Parents receive their student’s “share” of public ed.

funding, & may spend it at private schools

Primary & Secondary Education in Texas

Common schools are funded at taxpayer expense

Establishing public schools & funding these schools is mandated by the Texas Constitution of 1876.

• Art. 7 “Efficient Systems” Clause:

“A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

Similar (but not identical) language in other states:

• Education as a democratic imperative (18 states)

• References to educational opportunity (8 states)

• Descriptors of schools include “thorough,” “uniform,” “general”

Local School Districts

Schools often organized into school districts

• Authority of this special-purpose gov’t (over taxing, spending, other decisions) limited by state constitution & laws

Governing body for Independent School Districts (ISDs) is the Board of Trustees (or School Board)

• In TX, members (generally 7) are elected in nonpartisan elections

• Lengths of term vary; elected at-large or from districts

School board provided the model for council-manager form

• Board approves budget, sets the tax rate, & arranges financial audits

• Board hires the superintendent who manages day-to-day operations & implements the board’s policies

State-Level Educational Institutions

State Boards of Education regulate school districts via:

• Financial controls over allocated funds

• Bureaucratic oversight & monitoring

Texas Board of Education

• 15 members, 4-year elected terms, elected in “education districts” drawn by Legislature:

• Oversees Permanent School Fund

• Executes education budget

• Nominates Commissioner of Education

• Purchases textbooks & shapes their content

• Sets standards for students & schools

Texas Public Education Policy

• In Texas, education policy was largely left to local school districts until the 1940s

• Key issues shaping state policy

1. Desegregation

2. Equity in public school funding

3. Search for educational excellence

Segregation in Tx Public Schools

Was written into TX Constitution

• Black schools had fewer school days & 1/3 less funding

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Ends de jure segregation

• In 1957, TX Lege passed resolution in opposition to ruling

Persistence of de facto segregation even after Brown

• Largely due to housing patterns

• History of discriminatory housing policies, persistent socio- economic inequality b/t neighborhoods

Texas Education Funding

• Equality of funding across “poor” & “rich” districts is a

long-standing major issue

• Districts have sued the state several times since early 1980s

• Key issue: “poor districts” do not receive sufficient state funds

to deliver equal quality education as “well-off districts”

• Tax base varies widely across Texas school districts, as

does number of school-aged children

• Addressing inequalities in funding viewed by many as a

necessary continuation of fixing educational inequalities

Primary & Secondary school funding

• School funding relies heavily on property taxes

• In Texas, school districts are the primary user of this tax

• Tax rate * tax base = tax revenue

• Differences in property values leads to differences in district tax revenues

• This creates problems of equity in school funding b/t property-wealthy & property-poor districts

• Most districts paying max rate are property-poor districts

TX School Finance goes Before the Courts

• San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez (1973)

• In 5-4 decision, S.C.O.T.U.S. upheld TX school finance system

• Majority held that is was not a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s

14th Amendment equal protection clause

• Edgewood ISD v. Kirby (1989)

• TX State Supreme Court decision ruling that existing funding

system violated TX Constitution

• Violation of TX equal protection & efficient systems clauses

Wealth-Sharing or “Robin Hood”

• Response to Edgewood decision, requiring wealthier districts to transfer funding to poorer districts

• Chapter 41 districts (‘Property-wealthy’ districts)

• Give over “wealth equalization” share to the state which redistributes funds to…

• Chapter 42 districts (‘Property-poor’ districts)

• Keep local tax revenues & receive additional “recaptured” funds

• System is resented by “rich” districts, plagued with problems, & hasn’t resolved inequalities

Recent History of Texas Education Funding

Increases to education funding over inflation are rare

• Increases to keep up w/ inflation & population growth might not happen, either!

• Before 2025, last major funding increase by Lege was in 2019

• Funding increase & teacher pay raise killed during voucher fight in 88th Legislature (2023)

89th Texas Legislature (2025)

• Several anti-voucher Republicans ”primaried” in 2024

• Passes landmark bill, creating education savings accounts