As education becomes the hot topic in the state legislature this year, many school districts are claiming they are out of money, are underfunded, and need even millions more to get out of a hole. In most cases, it is a hole they have dug themselves by spending millions on DEI employees and giving raises to anyone besides teachers.
Yet the cries of underfunding are continuing, as the legislature looks to address school choice, and a potential teacher pay raise bill. Many administrators in the last month have been in Austin barking about the funding. But there is actually a problem with overfunding and turning the district's budget into a slush fund for people.
Fort Bend ISD (FBISD) board member David Hamilton says by his estimates, some places are overfunded by tens of millions of dollars.
"FBISD, in my opinion, is about $90 million overfunded on an annual basis," he says.
Granted, FBISD is the 6h largest school district in the state, home to about 80,000 students. Their overall operating budget totals around $766 million. Combined that with a recent tax rate bump. Yes, they do need funding, as that many students is expensive. But $90 million over what they need is not being smart, it is being wasteful.
Government waste has been a fiery topic since the Trump administration took office, as DOGE continues unearthing insane spending almost daily. That is sure to be happening as well in big school districts, as they try pushing DEI, sexually charged books for children, and new athletic facilities.
All of it is leaving children behind, and teachers stuck living paycheck to paycheck.
"There is a famous Ronald Reagan quote...he said, 'we have a trillion-dollar deficit, not because we tax too little, but because we spend too much,'" says Hamilton. "That is the same situation in school districts...our financial problems are because we have spending problems, not because we are underfunded."
But the money keeps flowing with almost no questions being risen about where the money is going, what it is being spent on, and who is controlling it.
So, what happens to that money? Well, the budgets are a sort of cash cow, from which those within the district directly profit.
"Those people want more and more money flowing into the system because the more that flows in, the more can go into their pockets," Hamilton says. "We need people who understand this so we can prioritize what is happening in the classroom, and our teachers."
Now, there is a new teacher pay raise bill in the Texas Legislature, proposed by Senator Brandon Crighton, who authored the school choice bill. That would possibly go a long way into making teachers somewhat happy.
But Hamilton adds the teachers need to be priority, because keeping them happy will lead to more retention, and better performance.
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