Governor Abbott and newly-appointed Comptroller of Public Accounts Don Huffines are teaming up to investigate waste and admin bloat.
Governor Greg Abbott has formally requested1 Texas Comptroller Don Huffines to investigate the finances of up to four independent school districts, focusing on whether taxpayer dollars are reaching students and teachers or being absorbed by administrative bloat. The request,2 detailed in an August 19 letter, comes as Texas has spent historic levels of taxpayer money on public education. Abbott and Huffines are seeking greater accountability for how those funds are spent.
In the letter,3 Abbott wrote that Texans expect taxes collected from hard-earned dollars “will be spent in compliance with the law.” He emphasized the state’s nearly $105 billion K-12 education budget and the need to ensure money supports students, classrooms, and teachers rather than “central-office growth, administrative bloat, consultants, and the web of noninstructional bureaucracy.”
Abbott invoked Section 111.003(a)(1) and (2) of the Texas Tax Code,4 which authorizes the comptroller, at the governor’s request, to investigate the books and accounts of officers and institutions handling public funds. He asked Huffines to select up to four independent school districts of varying size and geographic location for review, provide a preliminary timeline, and submit a final report by December 31, 2026, just ahead of the 90th legislative session.
Comptroller Huffines promptly accepted5 the request the same day. In an official announcement,6 he stated he would launch a detailed “Huffines Performance Review” of select districts to determine whether spending complies with the law and reaches students, classrooms, and teachers rather than fueling administrative growth or non-instructional bureaucracy.
Huffines commented in his official response, saying, “Texans must have confidence that their school tax dollars support educational opportunities for students, not layers of bureaucracy in central administrative offices. We will document wasteful and inappropriate spending wherever we discover it and report our findings to the Legislature and the people of Texas.” He pledged the review would be conducted professionally and transparently to protect taxpayers and help ensure Texas students attend the best schools in America. The selected districts will be named in the coming weeks, with the report due by year-end.
There have been longstanding concerns about administrative expansion in public education. Data7 and analyses8 have repeatedly shown non-teaching staff growth outpacing both student enrollment and teacher hiring in many systems, diverting resources from the classroom.
Texas taxpayers already fund education at high levels, with public school funding increasing nearly 81% over the last decade and $27 billion since 2019.10 Ensuring those dollars prioritize instruction over administrative bloat and over-head is a basic expectation.
| Figure 1. 10-Year Growth in Expenditures on Texas Public Schools | |||||
| School Year | Total Expenditures | % Change | Per Pupil | % Change | Per Pupil Adj |
| 2015-16 | $64,061,068,212 | 6.08% | $12,130 | 4.66% | $12,130 |
| 2016-17 | $67,475,719,295 | 5.33% | $12,631 | 4.13% | $12,355 |
| 2017-18 | $69,252,688,668 | 2.63% | $12,861 | 1.82% | $12,300 |
| 2018-19 | $70,993,369,584 | 2.51% | $13,108 | 1.92% | $12,325 |
| 2019-20 | $77,019,760,233 | 8.49% | $14,058 | 7.25% | $13,040 |
| 2020-21 | $79,294,505,532 | 2.95% | $14,797 | 5.26% | $13,023 |
| 2021-22 | $84,854,165,916 | 7.01% | $15,705 | 6.14% | $12,775 |
| 2022-23 | $92,414,047,078 | 8.91% | $16,792 | 6.92% | $13,171 |
| 2023-24 | $99,988,017,629 | 8.20% | $18,125 | 7.94% | $13,878 |
| 2024-25* | $103,381,139,116 | 3.39% | $18,693 | 3.13% | $13,895 |
| Avg. Increase | $4,299,443,676 | 5.55% | $710 | 4.90% | |
| Total Increase | $42,994,436,766 | 80.58% | $7,103 | 61.29% | |
The review is a solid, practical step toward accountability. But audits and investigations like these of every type of government institution should be routine and commonplace, not the exception. By targeting a sample of districts, the comptroller’s office can, at the very least, identify patterns, document waste, and equip lawmakers with concrete findings for implementing pro-taxpayer reforms.
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- https://x.com/bwaltens/status/2090122822458687762 ↩︎
- https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-requests-comptroller-investigate-school-district-finances-to-ensure-taxpayer-dollars-reach-students-and-teachers ↩︎
- https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Don_Huffines_Public_Education_Financial_Transparency_081926.pdf ↩︎
- https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/tax-code/title-2/subtitle-b/chapter-111/subchapter-a/section-111-003/ ↩︎
- https://x.com/bwaltens/status/2090128325930868914?s=20 ↩︎
- https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20260819-texas-comptroller-don-huffines-to-launch-performance-review-of-school-district-spending-1787157996728 ↩︎
- https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED583004.pdf ↩︎
- https://www.texaspolicyresearch.com/debunking-the-myth-the-real-story-of-texas-school-funding/ ↩︎
- https://www.texaspolicyresearch.com/debunking-the-myth-the-real-story-of-texas-school-funding/ ↩︎
- https://texastaxpayers.com/a-decade-of-government-growth-public-school-spending/ ↩︎
- https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/state-funding/state-funding-reports-and-data/peims-financial-standard-reports ↩︎
- https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=100.00&year1=201609&year2=202509 ↩︎
