Special School Districts Are Effective...why?

Carlos Guerra reports on the success of school districts within military bases in San Antonio.

Schools in those districts continue to rack up national and state recognitions for excellence. And their students — who graduate and go to college at higher-than-average rates — are regularly among the city's top performers in state, federal and college entrance exams.

So why are they so successful?

Asked why military district students seemed to do so well, Splitek — who worked for years at the San Antonio Independent School District — said that small schools are one of many advantages. But so is having relatively stable families. That most of their parents are either enrolled in classes or teaching them on the base doesn't hurt, either.

And at another one of the "military" districts:

We have 1,069 students at this point," he said, "and it really helps that all of their parents have jobs, and that there is also that military discipline in the families."

But the three districts also share something most other Texas districts would love to have. With no property to tax, they get special state and federal funding.

"What the state agency does is find out what's going on in the county and figure on an average, and they give us a per-pupil sum based on that," Splitek explained. "Then we also get federal impact aid in lieu of taxes."

The Defense Department sends "impact money" to districts that enroll military dependents. But generally, the per-pupil sum is five times larger for students who live on base than for those who do not.

Asked how much their districts spent per pupil, both Cavazos and Splitek said that their expenditures were "in the $10,000 range," which is higher than the national average of $8,616 and substantially more than Texas' average of $7,142.

So what you're saying is that more money actually helps? That's not what the Republicans say!