Clarendon College set to lose $639k in state funds

Clarendon College will lose more than $639,000 in state funding in fiscal year 2027 as Texas fails to honor its commitments to community colleges.

Three years ago, the Texas Legislature changed the way it funds community colleges, creating financial incentives for institutions that get students to complete degrees, transfer to a four-year college, or take dual credit classes.

Clarendon and other state community colleges rose to the occasion but exceeded the state’s expectations for success, resulting in a shortfall in state funds.

CC President Tex Buckhaults says that shortfall means community colleges are getting a pro-rated cut in funding for the upcoming fiscal year. Clarendon will see an 8.6 percent loss totaling $639,002. Buckhaults says he knows of one school that will see a 25 percent cut.

“Their prediction models weren’t really built on us following a true capitalist mentality,” Buckhaults said. “You tell us how to earn, and we go to work to earn the money. Now, they aren’t going to pay us what they said they would.”

Buckhaults said colleges agreed with state leaders when they proposed changing the funding formula from one based on headcounts and class hours to one based on outcomes, but he said colleges should be funded for their performance as promised.

CC and other colleges have almost no options to make up the shortfall. In addition to the cut in appropriations, Gov. Greg Abbott this spring forbid state colleges and universities from raising tuition and fees, and now Buckhaults says community colleges are getting a message from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick “strongly discouraging” them from raising taxes.

“There’s the old adage that community college funding is a three-legged stool – state appropriations, student tuition and fees, and local taxes,” Buckhaults said. “Now the pharaoh is asking us to make bricks without straw.”

Expenses, meanwhile, are on the rise, and Clarendon estimates that its fuel costs alone may increase 17 percent in the upcoming budget. CC and other colleges will have little choice but to cut spending, which will ultimately impact the students and communities they serve.