Rewrite a fully new long article using the information from
By Clarissa Riojas
Our public schools in the Rio Grande Valley are essential—they’re the very heart of our communities. The funding system that supports our Texas public schools is complicated, and it can easily be misunderstood, especially when a school bond election is discussed.
While school bond elections are ultimately decided by local voters, it’s important to understand both how the Texas school funding system works alongside the growing facility needs that local districts are working to manage.
In Texas, school finance separates funding for buildings and infrastructure from funding for day-to-day classroom operations, meaning districts cannot use bond dollars to support teacher pay or student programs.
At the same time, many districts are managing aging facilities, ongoing maintenance and safety upgrades, and shifting enrollment patterns that can strain resources or leave campus capacity underused.
With limited state support for facilities, these local decisions often reflect how communities choose to respond to very real and evolving infrastructure needs in their schools.
Understanding Where School Funding Goes
Texas law requires school districts to keep their funding in two entirely separate accounts, often called “silos.” Two important budgeting terms include:
● Maintenance & Operations: This type of funding covers the day-to-day costs of classroom operations, including teacher salaries, books, utilities, and student programs.
● Interest & Sinking (or “bricks and mortar” funding): This funding is strictly for long-term investments in a school’s infrastructure. It is the pot of money that can be used to build new schools, renovate aging facilities, or purchase new school buses.
The most important rule is that these two separate funding mechanisms must not be mixed. For example, a district cannot take money meant for a new roof and use it to give teachers a raise.
The State Funding Gap
Sometimes local communities turn to bond measures to close a funding gap from the state. Currently, the state of Texas contributes only about 7% to 9% of the overall cost of school facilities statewide. This leaves more than 90% of the responsibility for safe, modern buildings on the shoulders of local taxpayers. In Texas’ complex school funding system, local schools do not receive more funding when local property values and tax collections increase. Instead, the state contributes fewer state funds.
Furthermore, while the cost of everything from air-conditioning units to construction materials has experienced double-digit inflation since 2019, the state’s basic allotment, the fundamental dollar amount provided per student, has not kept pace.
Funding for Local Communities
Because the state’s funding formulas have remained relatively stagnant, local school bonds have become one way for communities to address aging infrastructure or security needs. When a district proposes a bond, it is essentially asking for the community’s permission to invest in “bricks and mortar” funding to keep our schools well maintained equipped for the future.
Moving Forward Together
At Raise Your Hand Texas, we use a water-bottle analogy to illustrate our school finance system, showing how local taxes fill the bottle first, and the state only “tops it off” to a certain level. When that bottle doesn’t grow to keep up with inflation’s demands, our local schools are left to find an alternative solution.
By better understanding these finer points of Texas school finance, we can have a more informed conversation about what our students need and how best to support the future of the Rio Grande Valley. As we look toward the upcoming election on May 2, we encourage every citizen across the Valley to make their voice heard at the ballot box. Your participation is essential in shaping the future of our local schools and the students they serve.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Clarissa Riojas, M.Ed., regional advocacy director for Raise Your Hand Texas. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.
Riojas adds: Whether you’re ready to get involved or just want to stay informed about the big issues in public education, join us at Raise Your Hand Texas. Visit go.ryht.org/subscribe for our newsletters or text updates, or you can contact Riojas at criojas@rhyt.org.
make sure the article is SEO-optimized following all the SEO Guides, from Focus Keyword to H2 and H3 titles and so on.
the article must explain all the details in a very clear and engaging structure.
very important: Use external links for keywords and sentences inside the article you will generate to boost the SEO.
Avoid writing any author related or donation related texts.
Avoid writing what you did in the articles because the article is published for visitors to read.
