As a teacher, Jordan Wheatley sees firsthand how Texas’s school funding system falls short of what students and educators need. He will fight to increase the state’s basic allotment so school funding keeps pace with inflation, supports teachers, and gives every student the opportunity to succeed.

Jordan says there is a massive disconnect between our state’s resources and what it spends on education. Texas has the world’s 8th largest economy, yet we rank 43rd in the nation for how we fund our students. This means that Texas is overwhelmingly underfunding our students and underfunding our future. What this looks like is textbooks held together by tape, ballooning class sizes, and neighborhood schools being forced to close their doors, while the state sits on a multi-billion dollar surplus.

The state’s constitutional mandate is to provide an 'efficient' system of public schools. There is nothing efficient about forcing districts into bankruptcy or watching our best teachers leave the profession because they can’t afford to live in the communities where they teach. It’s time we stop settling for 'good enough' and start funding our schools like the economic engines they actually are! Our students need us now more than ever.

Jordan will fight for meaningful investment in public education because students deserve the resources to succeed, teachers deserve support, and Texas’s future depends on the strength of its schools.