Texas school finance system : superintendents' perceptions of funding issues contributing to equity and adequacy

Few studies have previously been focused on what superintendents recommend for creating a fair and equitable school finance system in Texas. Superintendents were interviewed to illuminate the school finance issues faced by urban school districts. This study was undertaken to analyze perceptions of superintendents in regard to the factors, challenges, and experiences of navigating and managing the Texas school finance system to achieve their districts’ goals and priorities. The research questions were the following: (a) What factors do superintendents’ believe affect the Texas school finance system in terms of equity and adequacy? (b) How do superintendents characterize challenges within the Texas school finance system? (c) How do superintendents use their experiences to address equity and adequacy within the Texas school finance system? This study followed a qualitative, interpretivist design as part of presenting the multiple case studies. Three participants based on purposefully sampling from the population of superintendents of urban public school districts in Texas served along with artifacts from their districts as the multiple case studies. Data sources included interviews and pertinent artifacts. The findings of this study represented three key areas: (a) factors superintendents’ believe affect the school finance system in terms of equity and adequacy, (b) superintendents’ characterizations of the challenges within the Texas school finance system, and (c) utilization of superintendents’ experiences to address equity and adequacy within the Texas school finance system. The superintendent perspective could assist governing bodies understand students’ needs, requirements, and accountability priorities so that equitable and adequate funding could occur through updating the weighted average daily attendance system, revising the funding formulas to include socioeconomic student enrollment, and critical programs and/or needs for accountability.