School Funding Inequalities in the Texas Panhandle Related to the Racial, Socio-economic, and Linguistic Composition of School Districts

In Texas, significant disparities in school funding have led to several court cases and revisions to school funding formulas. The current paper finds that the funding that districts in the High Plains Region of the Texas Panhandle receive has a statistically significant relationship with districts’ size and student population characteristics. School districts with larger populations of students of color, economically disadvantaged students, and English Language Learners (ELLs) are likely to receive less funding per student compared to less diverse districts. This disparity in school funding proves especially striking considering many economically and linguistically diverse districts receive additional funds from the state and/or federal government. Specifically, districts receive additional state funding for each ELL student participating in a bilingual or ESL program. Districts with high percentages of low-income students likewise garner additional federal funding through the Title I program. As such, the present study demonstrates that significant inequities in school funding continue to exist in Texas, especially in the Texas Panhandle.