Some pennies are more equal than others: Inequitable school facilities investment in San Antonio, Texas

Abstract

In Texas, local taxpayers fund the majority of educational facilities construction and maintenance costs, with local wealth influencing facilities outcomes. The traditional school districts that comprise the predominantly Latino and segregated San Antonio area vary considerably in property wealth as well as district capacity and expertise. We conducted an analysis of 12 San Antonio area school districts to address the questions: 1) To what extent do state and local investments vary by district? 2) How do district actions and constraints affect facilities quality and equitable investment? Methods include descriptive quantitative analysis of facilities investment data and qualitative interviews with school district leaders, staff, and school finance experts. Examining Texas school finance data demonstrated the variance in school district investments in educational facilities. Despite some districts with lower property wealth exerting higher levels of tax effort, they were able to raise less money per student for educational facilities through interest and sinking taxes. Interview findings revealed that several districts acknowledge lacking the capacity to maintain high-quality facilities for all students. Respondents frequently criticized current state policies and funding for educational facilities as inadequate, inequitable, and inefficient and expressed a need for policy improvements in an era of increasing state disinvestment.

What are they talking about when they talk about equity? A content analysis of equity principles and provisions in state Every Student Succeeds Act plans

“…Cook-Harvey et al (2016) further contend that such an equitable education requires "competent and caring educators…who are supported by adequate resources" so that "each student can develop his or her full academic and societal potential" (p. 1). In education policy research, however, much of the discussion on equity has centered on (in)equitable access to educational resources (Bulkley, 2013), in particular funding disparities and unequal distribution of high-quality educators, across schools and districts and among student groups (Adamson & Darling-Hammond, 2012;Goldhaber, Lavery, & Theobald, 2015;Knight, 2019;Rivera & Lopez, 2019;Verstegen, 2015). For instance, Knight (2017Knight ( , 2019 reports that schools and districts serving high poverty and high minority students on average receive less funding but are disproportionately impacted by state funding cut.…”

“…Equitable funding. In education literature, equity is often discussed from the school finance perspective (Malen, Dayhoff, Egan, & Croninger, 2017;Odden & Picus, 2014;Rivera & Lopez, 2019), i.e., the funding structures and monetary resources available to districts and schools. Resource gaps within and between districts and schools were identified by almost all state ESSA plans as a major source of inequitable educational opportunities among students.…”

How crumbling school facilities perpetuate inequality

“…In the study, improvements that raised a school facility's overall environmental compliance rating from "worst" to "best" correlated to a 36-point average increase in a school's Academic Poor communities whose school facilities need the most attention have typically received the least facility funding, as seen in a national study of more than 146,000 school facility improvement projects from 1995 to 2004, which found that the projects located in high-wealth zip codes had more than three times the capital investment than the schools in the lowest-wealth zip codes (Filardo et al, 2006). Recent studies of Texas (Rivera & Lopez, 2019) and California (Brunner & Vincent, 2018) both found that school districts with lower property values raised significantly less facility funding from local and state sources, compared to districts in areas with higher property values. These differences in funding mean that students from affluent districts are more likely to attend school in bright, comfortable, and healthy facilities, while students in poorer districts are likely to attend school in dilapidated, obsolete, and unhealthy facilities that pose substantial obstacles to learning and overall student well-being.…”

Identifying the Configuration Differences of Primary Schools with Different Administrative Affiliations in China

“…The balanced development of education facilities is the common goal pursued by various countries. Previous research on the inequity of education services has mainly focused on different income classes, education reform, accessibility, and facility maintenance and investment [22][23][24][25]. There are also some studies focusing on school performance issues [26].…”