Texas gets 'F' in school funding report By Ericka Mellon Updated 3:17 pm, Wednesday, March 16, 2016 Texas earned the worst marks in the country for its funding of public education, according to a research report released Wednesday. Researchers with Rutgers Graduate School of Education and the New Jersey-based Education Law Center called out the Lone Star State for ranking poorly on all of its funding "fairness" measures. Texas received an "F" grade for investing a small share in public schools relative to the state's overall economic capacity and a "D" for not devoting more money to districts that serve a high concentration of students living in poverty. In addition, Texas ranked 39th based on its overall funding of districts. The measure, which adjusts for poverty and other regional differences, estimates that Texas spends $7,404 per student in a district with an average student poverty rate. The amount ranged from more than $17,300 in Alaska to nearly $5,750 in Idaho. School funding effort Texas' school-finance system has been challenged repeatedly over the decades. A state district court judge ruled in 2014 that the system was unconstitutional, siding with some 600 districts that sued. The Texas Supreme Court is weighing an appeal by the state. María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel, president of the Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio, said in a statement Wednesday that the research findings "emphasize why we cannot continue down this road of underfunding our schools." The report is based on U.S. Census data from 2013, which does not take into account additional funds Texas lawmakers allocated toward education after cutting $5.4 billion in 2011. Even before the funding cuts, however, Texas has scored poorly in the annual report, according to Danielle Farrie, research director for Education Law Center. http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Texas-gets-F-in-school-funding-report-6893526.php