Texas’ community college and school finance reforms to advance students’ postsecondary and workforce outcomes are producing encouraging early results. Now, a new Texas 2036 interactive tool gives Texas school districts and community colleges a clearer way to see how expanding career and college programs could build on that progress while generating additional state funding.
“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. “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.”
The free Career Coursework Funding Simulator includes every Texas school district and community college district, allowing educators and administrators across the state to explore specific career pathways and estimate the additional funding that could result from helping more students earn credentials connected to high-demand careers.
The financial resources available from the state for schools and colleges through its funding formulas are 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 approximately $1.23 billion in additional outcomes bonus funding.
- If every Texas high school graduate from the 2022-2023 school year had completed a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program of Study, school 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. “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 Texas 2036’s earlier work helping state leaders develop the community college finance system that ultimately became House Bill 8 (88-R). While that earlier work helped policymakers model potential funding formulas, the Career Coursework Funding Simulator helps with the next phase: helping local education leaders understand how the two modernized state funding systems can work together for Texas students.
Explore the Career Coursework Funding Simulator:
https://texas2036.org/college-career-ready/funding-simulator/
Read The Texas Model: Rewiring Community College Finance for Student Success:
https://texas2036.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Texas-Model-Report-2026_CompleteFirstDraftRevised_07202026.pdf
