Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a review into how the state's school districts are spending taxpayer money, saying that some of those funds were misused. The move comes after Texas schools received a major funding boost last year, and the governor now wants a closer look at where that money is actually going.
The boost came through House Bill 2, a new law that invested billions more into education across the state. According to the governor, Texas spends more than $104 billion on K-12 education, and he wants to make sure that money is supporting students and teachers rather than what he calls administrative bloat.
In a letter to the state comptroller on Wednesday, Abbott ordered a review of up to four school districts. The districts chosen are of different sizes and from different parts of Texas, a spread apparently intended to give a broader picture of how funds are being handled across the system rather than focusing on a single area.
The review will look at whether those districts are following House Bill 2, the law that channeled the additional billions into schools. The governor argues that too many tax dollars are funding things that do not improve student outcomes, framing the examination as a way to hold districts accountable for how the new money is used.
The concerns are not being raised in a vacuum. Recent internal audits identified tens of millions of dollars in financial inefficiencies, tied to underestimated expenses, unrealistic budget assumptions, and poor financial oversight. Those findings have fed the push to take a harder look at district-level spending decisions.
Beyond the accounting problems, some schools across the state have been called out for how they used their money. Examples cited include districts funding things like water parks and approving excessive severance packages, among other expenditures that critics say stray far from the classroom priorities the funding was meant to serve.
Under the governor's directive, the comptroller's office will examine the selected districts and issue a report to lawmakers by December 31st. That deadline sets up the findings to feed into the work of the legislature, which is expected to weigh questions of expansion or funding adjustments as it considers the future of the education funding law.