School Funding Poses Hurdles For Texas

Texas lawmakers have tentatively approved a budget that will bring major cuts to education, though its final passage is being delayed as they take part in a special session to consider potentially far-reaching changes in the state’s funding formula for schools.

Under the spending plan approved by both legislative chambers, which are controlled by Republicans, schools stand to receive about $4 billion less in formula funding over the next two years than is required by law to account for enrollment growth and other factors—about a 6 percent decrease.

Those bleak numbers are, by one measure, not as bad as they might have been, given that lawmakers were considering $10 billion in cuts earlier this year. The spending plan slashes an additional $1.5 billion from other education programs, including performance bonuses for teachers and administrators who raise student achievement and efforts to...