The Effect of the 2008 Recession on Gifted Education Funding Across the State of Texas

Abstract

The effect of the 2008 Recession has reverberated throughout public education in the United States. This paper examines how the gifted education funding in the state of Texas changed following the Great Recession. The framework of a generalized longitudinal mixed effect model was used to explore this topic. Data acquired from the Texas Education Association included financial and demographic information on Texas School districts (n = 1,025) between the 1999-2000 and 2014-2015 academic school years. The primary finding was that the Great Recession adversely affected suburban school districts. These districts saw a greater percentage point reduction of budget allocated toward gifted programming (-.24) than rural (-.08), town (-.05), or urban (-.08) school districts (t = 2.72, p < .01).

Using State Data to Conduct Research in the Field of Gifted Education

“…Recently, Plucker, Makel, Matthews, Peters, and Rambo-Hernandez (2017) called on researchers to strengthen policy research in gifted education research. Researchers have answered this call by using state data to examine gifted education funding (Hodges, 2018; Hodges, Tay, Desmet, Ozturk, & Pereira, 2018), equitable representation (Lamb, Boedeker, & Kettler, 2019), and the efficacy of age-based classroom design (Peters, Rambo-Hernandez, Makel, Matthews, & Plucker, 2017). However, there is still a wealth of state policies to evaluate.…”

Gifted education policy and advocacy: Perspectives for school psychologists

“…For example, Hodges, Tay, Desmet, Ozturk, and Pereira (2018) acknowledge that in Texas, only 40% of the funding in gifted education is mandated for use directly within gifted education while the remaining 60% can be used at the district's discretion-even on electricity bills.…”

The Influence of the Great Recession on the Identification of Students From Non-White Populations in the State of Texas

“…In practice, this has led to affluent suburbs having their income recaptured and then redistributed among poorer rural and urban districts (TEA, 2013). Coupled with the effect of the recapture system of shifting the more of the responsibility of educational funding to suburban districts, educational budget in suburban districts was significantly reduced (Hodges, Tay, Desmet, Ozturk, & Pereira, 2018). Texas school districts had reduced budgetary allocations to gifted education since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), though suburban districts continued to fund gifted programs at increased levels compared with urban and rural districts (Hodges, 2018).…”

“…Texas school districts had reduced budgetary allocations to gifted education since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), though suburban districts continued to fund gifted programs at increased levels compared with urban and rural districts (Hodges, 2018). The reduction in education funding by the state, spurred by the Great Recession, would lead those districts that had maintained funding during NCLB to reduce their allocation of budgets to gifted education (Hodges, Tay, Desmet, Ozturk, & Pereira, 2018).…”