The History of Texas Public Education
Public Education was a founding principal of Texas, now the Republicans want vouchers. How did we get here?
Do you ever wonder as a Texan how we got here with Education? We know we sure did, so we fell down the rabbit hole to try to understand. They say knowledge is power. So we are about to give y’all a whole bunch of power.
Texas Public Education Timeline
1836 - The Texas Declaration of independence listed one of the failures of Mexican Government was to failure “to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources” as among the many reasons for its independence from Mexico.
1838 - President Mirabeau B. Lamar of the Republic of Texas was an advocate for public school and was called the “Father of Education.”
1839 - Texas Congress set aside 3 leagues of land for public school for each Texas county and 50 leagues for universities.
1840 - Texas Congress gave public schools one more league of land, now public schools had 4 leagues of land per county. (A league is 4,428.4 acres)
1845
The United States of America annexed Texas. Texas State Constitution advocated for public education. 10% of the Tax revenue went to public schools
Baylor University founded in Waco by the final congress of the Republic of Texas
1850
Jan 31, 1850 (verify year was this 1950 or 1854) Gov Elisha M Pease signed bill setting up public school system.
2 million out of 10 million Texas received relinquishing claim to land North and West was set aside for education.
1854
Gov Pease signed the Common School Law that officially launched the Texas public school system.
Tx Legislation provided for state appropriation of funds based upon annual census 1st. School census showed 65,473 students at 62 cents per student.
To fund public Education Texas Legislature created the Special School fund (later this fund becomes the permanent school fund)
Railroads receiving grants were required to survey additional land for public school use.
1858 - New Braunfels Academy, the first free public school was established and paid for by local town taxes.
1861 - The financial stress of the Civil War caused the depletion of the Permanent School fund because of loan defaults. Public and private schools were closed and resources were directed to the war effort.
1866
Post Civil War Constitution made educational provisions for African Americans through property taxes. African Americans could now be schooled. Freemans Bureau brought teachers from the American Missionary Association in the North to teach black schools.
The Constitution also required public school teachers to obtain certificates in order to teach.
1871
Governor Edmund David signed billed creating a state public school system.
Texas Legislature founded Texas A&M University it officially opens in 1876
1876
Texas constitution provided lands for schools and 52 million acres of Texas public domain lands were allotted to school development.
A Permanent School Fund was created to collect money from sales of land and grants to railroad and set aside for pubic education.
Constitution provided for 1/4 occupation taxes and poll tax of $1 to go toward school support and made provisions for local taxation.
Abolished compulsory school attendance laws and the office of state superintendent.
1883 -
Ad volorem school tax for maintenance for an available school fund.
O.M. Roberts helped pass a constitutional amendment that began the school district system for Texas schools
Texas Legislature founded the University of Texas in Austin
1884 - The office of the state superintendent was reinstated.
1890
University of North Texas in Denton was founded as a private teachers college.
Laws were passed granting cities and municipalities more administrative freedom.
1893 - El Paso Board of Education was the first to open a public kindergarten.
1903 - Texas Legislature created a textbook selection board to increase uniformity across school districts.
1909 - Texas PTA was formed in Dallas
1911 - Rural High School law was passed to make rural schools equal with those in the independent urban districts
1915 - The state enacted a compulsory school attendance law. They were required to attend 60 days in 1916, 80 days in 1917, and 100 days in 1918.
1918 - Legislature authorized state purchasing of Textbooks. 20 cent Tax for school maintenance was raised to 35 cents so they could include free Textbooks.
1920 - Better School Amendment - allowed the amount of local school taxation for education to increase. The point was to ease the States burden of school financing. This led to inadequate funds and facilities for some schools.
1923 - Texas Legislature founded Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
1927 - The University of Houston was founded
1928 - SBOE began as over all policy making institution for public schools.
1929 - Texas Legislature authorized funding for kindergarten in all public schools.
1930 - Del Rio ISD vs Salvatierra - inferior quality of educational faculties for Mexican Americans. Schools were still segregated.
1936 - The Works Progress Administration helped finance a through study of the public education system in Texas to access conditions in schools and consolidate school districts.
1938 - The results of a 3 year comprehensive school district study were published. The resulting reform plan was the most radical in the state’s history. Conservatives resisted the changes and thus causing uneven implementation across the state.
1948 - Delgado v Bastrop ISD - Judge ruled against segregation of Mexican American children in public school system.
1949 - Gilmer-Aikin Laws reorganized the public school system and created the following:
The Texas Education Agency - an education agency that reports into the Governor
State Board of Education - 15 member board with 4 year overlapping terms
Foundation School Programs - State funds local schools
It consolidated 4,500 School districts into 2,900 more efficient units.
State funding became dependent on attendance thus providing incentive to increase attendance.
1950
Sweatt v Painter challenged separate but equal and helped lay groundwork for integration of schools.
Nearly 50% of public school funding comes from the Public Education fund
1954 - Brown vs the Board of Education was ruled upon and San Antonio ISD was the first ISD in Texas to comply.
1964 - The Laredo United Consolidated School District offered Texas’ first bilingual education program.
1965 - President Lyndon B Johnson passed Elementary and Secondary Education Act which provided assistance to under funded schools. 98% of public school teachers had college degrees and 40 % had graduate degrees.
1970 -
The TEA mandated a minimum of 180 days of classroom instruction
Cisneros vs Corpus Christi ISD extended the 1954 Brown vs the Board of Education decision to Mexican Americans.
United States vs Texas - A federal Judge Called for integration of all Texas schools due to discovery of discriminatory practices in some public school districts.
1973 - Senate Bill 121 required implementation of bilingual programs to all schools with 20 or more limited English speaking students in the same grade. This abolished the Texas’ English only teaching requirements that often subject Spanish speakers to fines and punishments for not speaking English.
1975 - House Bill 1126 provided the first state compensatory funds and state equalization to poor districts.
1977 - State legislature formed a School Tax Assessment practices board to determine property wealth of a school district.
1980
H. Ross Perot was appointed to head a select committee to formulate school reform after declining tests scores and literacy. This resulted in House Bill 72 which placed stringent guidelines on teacher certification and initiated competency testing. Teachers salaries were tied to performance. Stricter attendance rules and other reforms such as “no-pass, no-play” for those students in extracurricular activities.
Edgewood ISD v Kirby - plantiffs charged that public school financing discriminated against students in poor school districts. .
1981 - House Bill 246 mandated the creation of a state curriculum.
1983 - Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment that provides the guarantee of school district bond by the permanent school fund.
1984
House Bill 72 gave teachers a raise, revamped school finance to give more money to property poor districts and other steps in academia
A 22:1 student-teacher ratio for classes from kindergarten through 4th grade.
Tied student performance to teachers salaries
Students were required to pass exit exam to graduate high school. This began Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). Test given in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.
1989 - Edgewood ISD v Kirby, the Texas Supreme Court determined that the state’s school finance system was unconstitutional and rejected proposed solutions until a new financial plan was approved in 1995.
1990
The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS became the third standardized test used in Texas). It is given to students in grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 for reading, math, and writing. Students need to pass grade 11 to graduate from high school.
This is also the first time we saw a “Robin Hood” school financing plan
1991 - Gov Ann Richards appointed the first commissioner of education, who was charged with managing the TEA as well as communicating with the US Department of Education.
1993
Texas Legislature passed legislation intent on leveling the funding field for Texas Schools. Senate Bill 7 created the state’s educational accountability system that served as a precursor to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
It also limited a set amount of property wealth per student. Districts with too much wealth could do the following:
Merge tax base with 1 or more property poor districts.
Send money to state
Contract to educate students in other districts
1995 - There was an overhaul of the education code. Senate Bill 1 stripped mandated rules and returned more authority to local school districts. Gave power to anoint a commission. School Board of Education granted open enrollment charter schools and established a School Board of Education Certificate. Also gave teachers the authority to remove disruptive students from their classrooms.
Note: Charter Schools are now showing up as an alternative to public education
1996 SBOE approved the creation of Texas’ first 20 charter schools.
1997 - the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) became the new curriculum standard.
1999 - The Legislature increased funding for pubic education which included higher salaries for teachers, counselors, librarians and school nurses.
2002 - No Child Left Behind Accountability system begins which holds schools and districts responsible for performance, testing scores, and drop out rates. On top of this the state passed even more state assessment tests.
2009 - Senate Bill 175 Allowed UT-Austin to reduce the number of students automatically admitted.
2011 -
The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) replaced TAKS test. It is mandatory and requires a 12 course exit assessment.
Legislature took massive historic 5.4 billion dollar cuts into public education. This had enormous impacts on local school districts.
2013 - The legislature eliminated measures of proficiency in chemistry, physics, geometry, world history, and world geography for the STAAR test.
2015
Legislators approved money for training reading and math teachers reinstating programs they cut in 2011.
Expanded school telemedicine programs for students that may go without medical care otherwise.
Legislature set aside more money for Pre-K education
We saw a push for vouchers but they didn’t pass.
House Bill 2804 passed ISD’s and schools A-F rating system.
2017
Vouchers and school choice was again rejected
Passed Bathroom bill which requires students to use a bathroom based on the gender of their birth certificate.
Legislators passed laws requiring schools to instruct students on proper interaction with peace officers during traffic stops and other in person encounters.
2019
House Bill 3 passed adding $6.5 billion back to public funding and teachers pay.
Vouchers and school choice was again rejected
2021
House Bill 1525 - cleaned up the HB3 bill. Created allotments for career and technical education, changed to tiered system, allowed TEA to enforce corrective action against districts that perform ed tax swaps barred under HB3.
Pass virtual learning bill
Allows districts to establish individual graduation committees for seniors no matter how many End of Course (EOC) exams they failed. This applied to this year only due to COVID.
Homeschooled students can participate in UIL activities. This is optional for districts.
Schools also banned Critical Race Theory (note it is not taught in public school anyway)
Teachers cannot be required to discuss controversial pubic policy or social issues. Legislature outlines what can be taught in public school social studies.
Concepts that ones race or sex is superior to others or that one is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive based on their race or sex cannot be taught in pubic schools.
limited access to school sports teams for transgender students.
Vouchers and school choice was again rejected
Removes 5th and 8th grade requirements to pass the STAAR test.
TEA required to develop Ag education program for elementary students
Charter schools exempt from paying property taxes on leased properties
Today Texas has 1,026 independent school districts and we are on the cusp of finding our what the 88th Texas Legislature’s plans are for Public Education. We hope we can fight off another round of voucher wars.
References:
All photographs were from Portal to Texas History: https://texashistory.unt.edu
https://gato-docs.its.txst.edu/jcr:27972b92-caac-48c5-9a04-baec65647f43/Texas
https://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/welcome-and-overview/an-overview-of-the-history-of-public-education-in-texas
https://www.texasalmanac.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-public-education
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/education
https://www.keranews.org/education/2015-08-19/texas-kids-how-they-fared-in-the-2015-legislative-session
https://communityimpact.com/houston/cy-fair/education/2021/08/13/12-public-education-bills-approved-by-the-87th-texas-legislature/