As Tarrant County lawmakers prepare to kick off the Texas legislative session Jan. 14, Fort Worth Report journalists are exploring the policies set to be shaped in Austin. Click here for more legislative coverage.
Arlington ISD school board President Justin Chapa felt something was missing in the district’s legislative agenda draft.
Throughout the list, Arlington ISD asked Texas lawmakers to spend the 2025 legislative session approving more funding for public schools. But Chapa’s central ask of Texas lawmakers was nowhere to be found: opposition to vouchers.
The Arlington ISD school board approved its legislative priorities in a November meeting. They include opposition to expanding private school choice, support of higher education funding and a call to reform the state’s academic accountability system.
“If there is anyone in Austin who thinks we are coming down to talk to them about something other than vouchers, and to oppose it, I would like to meet that person,” Chapa said. “This is what we will be talking about loud and clear throughout the spring.”
Gov. Greg Abbott supports expanding private school choice through a voucher-like policy called education savings accounts. The policy would give parents taxpayer dollars to fund educational expenses, such as private school tuition or homeschooling.
Public school leaders have widely shunned education savings accounts because they believe the policy would siphon money and students.
Heading into the 2025 session that kicks off in January, Abbott likely has enough votes in the Legislature to pass an education savings account policy.
While other school districts believe a voucher law is guaranteed, Chapa wants Arlington ISD to hold its opposition as long as possible, he said.
“This is going to be the main education policy item that the Legislature will consider, I don’t think there’s any question what our position is on it,” he said. “We should call it like it is.”
Some trustees feared Arlington ISD’s hard-line opposition could have negative consequences. At the November meeting, Trustee David Wilbanks was worried that lawmakers might quickly shut down conversations with the district once they see Arlington ISD’s stance on education savings accounts.
“Given where we are post-election and the way the numbers look like they’re going to line up for easy (voucher) passage, we need to be pragmatic and shift our attention to controlling the damage,” Wilbanks said.
School funding
Beyond voucher opposition, the district wants legislators to raise its per-student funding and base school funding on enrollment, rather than attendance.
School districts currently receive $6,160 for each student who attends classes. Lawmakers have not increased the per-student funding since 2019, and the country’s high inflation rate has significantly lowered that buying power.
School safety
Arlington ISD wants legislators to fund school security initiatives that are “sufficient, flexible and comprehensive” and include dollars for more mental health services.
Security hits close to home for Arlington ISD. In the past two years, the district saw two shootings outside the doors of high schools that each left one student dead.
Academic accountability
The school board has lamented what they say is the state’s over-reliance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test. The Texas Education Agency uses test scores to measure school and district performance in the state’s accountability system.
Arlington ISD has seen students’ test scores decline along with the rest of the state. The district lags behind statewide and regional averages. In the spring 2024 STAAR test, no grade or subject saw more than 45% of students meet grade level.
Arlington ISD Superintendent Matt Smith hasn’t shied away from acknowledging the low test scores as a sign that district improvement is needed, but he also feels the test does not fully represent the success of the district.
Reflecting Smith’s concerns, Arlington ISD wants legislators to create a more transparent district accountability system and not over-rely on the state standardized test as a measure for school effectiveness.
Trustees also want lawmakers to support initiatives that have been shown to boost student learning, including more accessible full-day pre-K.
What are Arlington ISD’s recommendations for Texas lawmakers?
The district breaks its policy wish list into three categories and lays out legislation recommendations:
School funding
- Continue to allot public funds to Texas public schools and oppose voucher legislation.
- Increase the per-student basic allotment funding to acknowledge increased classroom costs due to inflation and accommodate educator compensation increases.
- Base school funding on student enrollment rather than attendance.
- Fund the identification and needs of the growing special education student population to ensure students get the services and education they deserve.
- Increase access to affordable health insurance options for public school employees.
Safety
- Enhance student security through increased funding of the school safety allotment.
- Stabilize safety funding streams for school districts and avoid reliance on grant funding.
- Prioritize and increase support for student and staff mental health identification and services with flexibility to meet local needs.
- Stabilize safety funding streams for school districts and avoid reliance on grant funding.
- Prioritize and increase support for student and staff mental health identification and services with flexibility to meet local needs.
- Fund Multidisciplinary Threat Assessment Teams for every school district to ensure appropriate staffing and effective intervention to prevent violence.
Academic growth
- Utilize a fair, transparent accountability system for all schools in Texas that receive public funds.
- Reduce the over-reliance on STAAR as a measure for student and school success in the accountability system.
- Accelerate access to research-based early childhood learning through enrollment-based funding for full-day pre-K for all 4-year-old students.
- Continue to allow local school districts the autonomy to adopt TEKS-aligned instructional resources that best reflect student populations.
Arlington ISD’s full legislative agenda can be found here.
Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.