| Abstract: | This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the current system of financing public education in Texas. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the degree of variation in school district expenditures and the effects of this variation on educational achievement. The results of this analysis indicate that extreme variations exist in the level of educational resources across Texas school districts. This variation in finance related variables does not, however, correIate with variation in educational achievement. Ninety-one percent of the variation in educational achievement remain unexplained after funding variations have been controlled. This finding concurs with earlier studies which indicate that socioeconomic characteristics account for a large degree of variation in educational achievement, whereas school resource characteristics play a relatively insignificant role in explaining school achievement. |
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