It's a mission field...

I hear it all the time—“We spend more on education than anyone else, but we’re not seeing the return.” That line sounds good on paper. It feels true. But let me tell you something, especially here in Texas: this conversation isn’t just about dollars. It’s about kids. It’s about people.

Let’s be real—two kids can walk into the same classroom in any small town or city across Texas, and their journeys couldn’t be more different.

One of them had a warm meal last night, a bedtime story, a quiet place to do homework, and a parent cheering them on. The other? That child might’ve spent the night in a car, moved into their third school this year, and skipped breakfast because the pantry’s empty again.

One’s ready to learn. The other is doing everything they can just to survive.

And we wonder why test scores don’t tell the whole story?

We’ve got schools doing the impossible every single day. Feeding kids. Clothing kids. Loving kids through trauma. Teachers in Texas aren’t just teaching—they’re counseling, coaching, parenting, healing. But we keep asking more while giving less. We throw money at testing while ignoring the things that actually move the needle—mental health support, early childhood education, and keeping great teachers in our classrooms.

Here’s the deal, in Texas, our funding model is tied to property taxes and attendance—meaning budgets are set on projections of tax collection and projections on enrollment and then attendance. If kids don’t show up or if attendance is poor you are in a deficit. Staff is already set for that year, it’s too late for changed. Because of this, kids in one district might have access to robotics labs and dual credit courses, while just down the road, another campus can’t even find a certified math teacher.

Y’all, this isn’t a spending problem. It’s an investing problem.

If we want better outcomes, we have to invest in people. That means more counselors. More wraparound services. More respect and pay for the educators doing God’s work in classrooms every day.

Education isn’t a product. It’s not a factory. It’s a mission field. And the mission is this: every kid, every day, no matter what.

We don’t need more blame. We need more belief. More belief in the power of public schools. More belief in the people doing the work. And more belief that every kid in Texas—whether they live in the Panhandle or the Valley—deserves a school that gives them a fighting chance.

So let’s tell that story. Loud. Often. Together.