An obscure element of the Texas school finance system called Golden Pennies leaves a handful of districts with far more money than they need.

E4: ‘We didn’t make the rules:’ Texas school finance law gives some districts a big advantage

One of the biggest education stories in Texas in 2023 was the governor’s push to create a school-voucher-like program. And all signs point to that story continuing to be a major political driver in 2024.At the heart of that debate is a decision about how Texas should fund education. But it’s hard to have a true debate on the topic because the state’s current school funding formula is so complicated and convoluted that very few people truly understand it.TPR Education Reporter Camille Phillips spent a year analyzing nearly two decades of school finance data, researching laws and policies, and visiting schools so that Texans could have the information they need to have that debate. She discovered that the Texas school finance system continues to favor some districts over others — and it might not be the districts you expect.Read the entire series, and see photos and data visualizations here.

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E4: ‘We didn’t make the rules:’ Texas school finance law gives some districts a big advantage

E4: ‘We didn’t make the rules:’ Texas school finance law gives some districts a big advantage