Texas 2036 released a free online tool Aug. 25 that lets school districts and community colleges estimate how much additional state funding they could generate by expanding career and college programs, the nonpartisan policy organization announced.
The Career Coursework Funding Simulator covers every Texas school district and community college district, according to an Aug. 25 news release from the organization. Educators and administrators can use it to explore specific career pathways and estimate the funding that could follow from helping more students earn credentials connected to high-demand careers.
“The Texas community college and school finance systems are designed to support local communities who are doing harder, better things for their students,” said Mary Lynn Pruneda, director of education and workforce policy at Texas 2036, in the release. “The simulator gives local leaders a powerful tool for that progress by identifying programs and funding that can help students earn valuable credentials and prepare for good jobs in their own communities.”
Texas 2036 said the money available through the state’s funding formulas is substantial. If every Texas high school graduate from 2024 had met the state’s college, career and military readiness benchmarks, school districts would have received roughly $1.23 billion in additional outcomes bonus funding, the organization said. If every graduate from the 2022-2023 school year had completed a Career and Technical Education Program of Study, districts would have generated an additional $449 million in gross CTE funding.
“Texas has made a significant investment in helping students earn credentials that lead to good jobs,” said Grace Atkins, postsecondary and workforce policy advisor at Texas 2036, in the release. “For local leaders, the question is where the greatest opportunities are for their students. This tool gives them a way to test the possibilities of expanding a program and drawing down more state funding using their own district or college.”
The simulator builds on the organization’s earlier work helping state leaders develop the community college finance system that became House Bill 8 during the 88th Legislature, the release said. Texas 2036 said that while that work helped policymakers model potential funding formulas, the new tool is aimed at the next phase: helping local education leaders understand how the state’s two modernized funding systems can work together for students.