Funding for the Texas public education system is in a bit of a crisis, and lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have filed bills that address the financial deficits witnessed in school districts across the state. Factors like testing scores and daily attendance affect the amount of funding a school receives, but enrollment is the heaviest hitter. Currently, schools receive a base allotment per student of $6,160, and no students means no money to offset high operational costs.
Enrollment is dropping, and school districts across North Texas anticipate a decline by several thousand students in the next few years. During the pandemic, when daily attendance declined tenfold, billions of dollars in federal funding flooded school districts through President Joe Biden’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. But the well has dried, and districts everywhere are opting to shutter school doors permanently.
“Although this is not an easy decision, the reasoning behind it is simple,” Irving ISD trustee Lisa Lobb told the Observer in May. “With losing 4,000 students in our district over recent years, we are receiving millions of dollars less in money.”
Enrollment decreases are the result of several causes. Chiefly, the birth rate has decreased and educational options have expanded. Parents have more choices than ever; with online schooling and private schools, parents are no longer restricted to their neighborhood school.
Gov. Greg Abbott has made school vouchers a legislative priority for years. A vocal proponent of the program, which allows parents to use public funds to pay for private school, he faced criticism as school districts grappled with multi-million deficits ahead of the 2024–25 school year. This year, in the wake of school closures, Abbott has promised to fully fund public schools.
“They make it sound like you can't have both school choice and robust public schools,” Abbott said while speaking at a private school in Tyler. “That's completely false. The reality is we can have the best public schools in America and also have school choice at the very same time. It does not have to be one or the other, and it's wrong to pit one against the other.”
Here are the DFW public schools closing in 2025:
- Pinkerton Elementary School
Coppell ISD
- B. B. Owen Elementary School
- Creekside Elementary School
- Garden Ridge Elementary School
- Highland Village Elementary School
- Polser Elementary School
Lewisville ISD
- Davis Elementary School
- Forman Elementary School
- Armstrong Middle School
- Carpenter Middle School
Plano ISD
- Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School
Richardson ISD
