Property Taxes and Educational Inequality: How Funding Structures Perpetuate Social Class Divides in San Antonio, Texas

Authors

• Kristanna Martinez, St. Mary's University
• Camila Ore, St. Mary's University

Files

Contributor

Nash, Sure (Faculty Mentor)

Digital Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Keywords

Property taxes, Education, Inequality, Social Class, Economic Division

Description

The U.S education system relies heavily on property taxes, creating an unhealthy dependence where property value dictates the quality of education depending on the school district

• In the historical case Edgewood v. Kriby, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the reliance on local property taxes for school funding was unconstitutional, as it violated the state requirement that all children receive a “thorough and efficient” education. The court ruled that every district must be provided the same ability to obtain educational funds regardless of their local property wealth. • The purpose of this study is to examine if the 2025-2026 funding data between Edgewood ISD and Alamo Heights ISD determine if these historic court rulings and subsequent policies were enough to balance the educational funding field, or if the unequal tax system persisting necessitates further reform.

Format

PDF

Size

1 poster

City

San Antonio, Texas

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.