Statewide school advocates on Friday rolled out a new pitch: a permanent “Legacy Education Fund” — think endowment, not band-aid — to funnel steady, supplemental dollars into Texas classrooms. Libby Cohen, executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas, warned that persistent funding gaps have already forced some districts into campus closures, program cuts, staff reductions, and even four-day workweeks. The timing collides with Gov. Greg Abbott’s renewed push to eliminate local school property taxes, a move that would overhaul how most Texas schools get paid.
As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Raise Your Hand Texas is urging lawmakers to consider an endowment that supplements — not replaces — the state’s school-finance system. The fund, they say, could help districts weather persistent shortfalls even after the 89th Legislature’s $8.5 billion education package, creating steadier, long-term resources so campuses aren’t stuck scrambling when the two-year budget clock runs out.
What the Legacy Fund Would Do
Raise Your Hand Texas frames the Legacy Education Fund as an endowment that preserves principal and taps investment returns to send supplemental dollars to districts — a way to add “durability” and “stability” for schools, according to Raise Your Hand Texas. Potential revenue sources include state general revenue, a dedicated slice of sales-tax growth, transfers from state savings, and private donations. The group plans to dig into the idea during a live taping of an Intersect Ed podcast at the Texas Tribune Festival on Nov. 14.
Why advocates say the state needs it
Advocates note Texas still sits in the lower tier nationally for per-pupil spending; state-by-state data from the NEA places the state near the bottom for per-student funding. Even after this year’s $8.5 billion infusion, much of the cash was targeted to teacher pay and specific programs rather than broadly boosting the flexible basic allotment, Houston Public Media reports. That mismatch, they argue, helps explain ongoing operating deficits and tough calls on staffing and schedules.
Political crosswinds
Gov. Greg Abbott has made eliminating local school property taxes a cornerstone of his reelection pitch, proposing a constitutional amendment to wipe out most school property taxes and asking the state to backfill districts’ lost revenue. Critics and analysts warn that replacing billions in local dollars with state or sales-tax revenue would be politically and fiscally tricky — and could shift costs onto lower-income households — a point underscored in a recent analysis by the Houston Chronicle. The dueling approaches — a new endowment versus a tax overhaul — set up a fiscal showdown for lawmakers heading into the next session.
Legal hurdles and where the money comes from
Any constitutional change to abolish school property taxes would need approval by at least two-thirds of both legislative chambers before going to voters, per guidance from the Texas Secretary of State. Texas already has the Permanent School Fund, a decades-old endowment fed by state lands and mineral leases and managed by the Texas General Land Office; its investment returns flow to districts through formulas set by lawmakers. Because those dollars are tied tightly to the state’s formulas, advocates say a separate public endowment could be crafted to deliver truly supplemental funds directly to schools.
Raise Your Hand Texas plans to press its case publicly this week at the Texas Tribune Festival and in conversations with lawmakers ahead of the 90th Legislature — pitching voters and legislators on whether to add a predictable new revenue stream for schools or pursue tax changes that could upend local budgets, according to Raise Your Hand Texas. Ultimately, lawmakers will decide whether an endowment, tax reform, or some hybrid becomes the path to steadier school funding statewide.
