Some Texas Lawmakers Want to Know How Much It Really Costs to Educate Public School Students

KUT 90.5 | By Kate McGee

Published January 5, 2017 at 7:30 AM CST

Two state representatives have filed bills to require the state to conduct a study on how much it costs to educate students.

This legislative session, Texas lawmakers have some tough discussions ahead of them about how Texas funds its public schools, but some are asking how lawmakers can have those conversations without an updated look at how much it actually costs to educate kids.

So far, two state representatives have filed bills requiring the Texas Education Agency to study how much it costs to educate students, particularly English language learners and economically disadvantaged students.

State Rep. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio), who filed one of those bills, advocated for a cost study at hosted by the Austin Monitor and KUT last month, suggesting the study should examine the cost for English language learner (ELL) students and compensatory education students 鈥� students who are at risk of dropping out.

鈥淲e have no study that tells us, here鈥檚 how much it probably would take to educate an [English Language Learner] or a [compensatory education] student to meet accountability," Bernal said. 鈥淭hat study, that amount doesn鈥檛 exist. So, we鈥檙e flying blind and, at a certain point, it鈥檚 okay to open up that can of worms because we鈥檙e going to end up in the situation we鈥檙e in now.鈥�

State Rep. Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) also filed a bill to study how much it would cost to educate ELL students. The left-leaning think tank Center for Public Policy Priorities is also advocating for a cost study.

鈥淲hat we really need to do is take a step back to determine what does it cost to meet educational standards we have in place and figure out what kind of school finance system can deliver those costs," said Chandra Villanueva, a school finance expert with the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

But, getting lawmakers to agree to fund this study could be difficult.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Texas鈥� school finance system is constitutional, but justices said the state should make changes to its outdated system. Speaker of the House Joe Straus ordered the house to study the state鈥檚 school finance system, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick did not include school finance reform on .

Instead, Patrick and the Texas Senate want to create a school voucher system. This ideological divide is happening as the state braces for possible budget cuts. At the City Summit meeting last month, Kingwood State Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Humble) didn鈥檛 disagree with the idea of a cost of education study, but suggested to Rep. Bernal that there may be limited legislative action this session.

鈥淚 think, going into this session, setting realistic expectations to accomplish goals is where we鈥檙e out today," Huberty said. "And knowing what we have, money-wise, what we can do."

Lawmakers find out just how much money they have to spend next week, when Comptroller Glenn Hegar releases a revenue estimate for the next state budget.