Poorer school districts still shortchanged in Texas, expert says
AUSTIN — The state only slightly reduced big funding gaps between richer and poorer school districts last year, a representative for hundreds of districts told a judge Wednesday.
Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Equity Center, testified that elementary schools in wealthier districts still have an average $73,000 more per classroom to spend than schools in the state’s poorest districts.
That funding advantage exists even though the poorest 15 percent of school districts have significantly higher tax rates than the wealthiest 15 percent, Pierce said.
“The [funding] gaps remain exceedingly large,” he said. “We have an irrational system with layers of irrational funding factors.”
More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140129-poorer-school-districts-still-shortchanged-in-texas-expert-says.ece .
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