A central issue in the 2026 campaign is becoming a conversation about education, and really, it should be. Education is one of the biggest things the State of Texas does and one of the biggest things it pays for. State leaders are telling us they put a historic $8.5 billion more into public education last session; let’s break down exactly what that means.
Texas now funds education through what I describe as three different lanes: traditional public schools, public charter schools, and the newly created Education Freedom Accounts, or vouchers, where individual families can use state money to pay for private school, homeschool, and other approved education expenses.
During the last session, lawmakers made funding commitments to all three.
The First Lane is traditional public schools, which the majority of Texas families choose, and where we educate more than 5 million students in our state. During the last session, legislators added $8.5 billion in new public education funding for the two-year budget cycle, which sounds impressive.
The clearest way to understand the $8.5 billion is to start with the Basic Allotment — the flexible building block of school funding. Lawmakers increased it by just $55 per student, from $6,160 to $6,215. Most of the rest was already directed to specific purposes: about $4 billion for teacher and staff pay, including the Teacher Incentive Allotment; another $1.3 billion for operating costs; plus money for special education, literacy, safety, career programs, and rural schools. So when you hear “historic $8.5 billion,” remember: most of that money was already spoken for before it reached your local district.
The second lane of education funding is charter schools. Charter schools are public schools, but unlike traditional school districts, they are authorized by the state, governed by appointed rather than locally elected boards, have more flexibility from some state regulations, and do not levy local property taxes. That last part matters for funding, because their entire Foundation School Program entitlement comes from the state.
Today, about 443,000 Texas students attend charter schools — roughly 8% of all public-school students — and the Legislative Budget Board estimates they will receive about $5.5 billion in state aid in fiscal year 2026. HB 2 also included roughly $199 million over the biennium specifically to expand charter-school facilities funding, so part of that historic $8.5 billion in new public-education funding is also flowing into a charter system that has grown from about 2,500 students when Texas charters opened 30 years ago to more than 442,000 today.
Then in 2025, Texas opened a third lane. The Legislature created Education Freedom Accounts and appropriated $1 billion to start the program, money that is separate from the $8.5 billion public-school package. More than 274,000 applications were submitted for the first year, and more than 100,000 students had funded accounts by late summer. Private-school students can receive more than $10,000 this year, homeschool and other qualifying students can receive $2,000, and some students with disabilities can receive substantially more.
So it’s worth taking a minute to step back and look at what Texas has built. We have traditional public schools educating roughly 5 million children, a growing public charter system, and now a third lane using state dollars for private school, homeschool, and other education expenses.
Maybe Texas can fund all three. Right now, we have the money to try.
But what happens when the funds get tight? Which students will they prioritize?
That question matters everywhere, but I think it matters even more in rural Texas because rural priorities are already too often the last man on the totem pole when funding gets tight. We need rural hospitals, broadband, water infrastructure, roads, and emergency services. Small towns are trying to maintain basic infrastructure with small tax bases, and fewer rural legislators in Austin are fighting for those priorities as population and political power continue shifting toward urban and suburban Texas.
Every new long-term funding commitment matters because eventually all of these priorities meet in the same place: the state budget.
And the new voucher program may not stay at $1 billion. The state’s own fiscal analysis shows that, depending on participation and future legislative decisions, its cost could grow into the billions annually in future years. At the same time, traditional public schools are not going anywhere. Neither are charter schools. And now Texas has created another group of families who will reasonably expect the state to continue funding the program it created for them.
Every one of those pots represents Texas kids, which is why I think this conversation has to go: whether Texas can sustain all of these commitments when the budget is not as flush as it is today, while still funding hospitals, water, broadband, roads, and all of the other things rural Texas already struggles to get its share of.
Because a state budget is ultimately a list of priorities. And when budgets get tight, the real question will not be whether Texas supports education.
It will be which students Texas chooses to prioritize.
Suzanne Bellsnyder is editor and publisher of the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman and Sherman County Gazette. Subscribe at TexasRuralReporter.Substack.com