Texas
State Government
Governor
Greg Abbott (R)
State Senate
12
Democrats,
19
Republicans
State House
64
Democrats,
86
Republicans
Economic well-being - Texas
Extreme poverty rate
0.08
Food insecurity
0.176
Minimum wage
7.25
Percent of working families under 200% of the poverty line
0.313
Poverty rate
13.4%
Unemployment rate
4.1
Number of Black or African American children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Number of Hispanic or Latino children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Percent of individuals who are uninsured
16.7
Poverty by demographic - Texas
Child poverty rate
0.18
Number of Asian and Pacific Islander children below 200% poverty
79000
Number of Black or African American children below 200% poverty
463000
Number of Hispanic or Latino children below 200% poverty
1915000
Senior poverty rate
12.3 %
Women in poverty
15,455,699
Dallas Business Journal, August 24, 2012: TI's Templeton helps lead United Way school event
"Roughly 100 United Way volunteers will join Texas Instruments chairman, president and CEO Rich Templeton Saturday in handing out free school supplies to pre-selected students from low-income, diverse areas of Dallas."
The Houston Chronicle, August 23, 2012: Spring Branch ISD partners with KIPP, YES charters
"The partnership between SBISD, KIPP and YES Prep, known as SKY, was conceived to offer students choices, to use district campuses with low populations and to reach low-income students. Students could apply through the lottery for the schools regardless of family income. Both schools have longer school days and more days of instruction, key components of KIPP and YES Prep, created to offer a rigorous alternative with an emphasis on going to college to low-income and underserved kids."
The Dallas Morning News, August 09, 2012: Frisco fifth-grader founds robot camp for underprivileged kids
"So he did what any entrepreneurial fifth-grader would do: He founded Robots 4 Everyone, a nonprofit that provides a free robotics camp for at-risk or low-income kids. The goal is to foster a love of science and provide an escape route from boredom and poverty."
The New York Times, July 22, 2012: Texas's Dropout Rate Shows Positive Signs
"The state is also in the midst of a huge demographic shift, with an increasing population of low-income and minority students. The demographic shift has played out on a small scale in Duncanville I.S.D., a district of about 13,000 students on the outskirts of Dallas and one that has not seen the same success with dropout problems as others in the state. There, in the last eight years, the number of economically disadvantaged students has jumped to 75 percent from 49 percent."
The Houston Chronicle, June 8, 2012: Thousands of area high school students fail new state tests
"To pass, students had to score at the 'satisfactory' or higher 'advanced' level. Districts with greater percentages of low-income students tended to perform the worst. The highest scores came on the biology test, with 84 percent passing in HISD and 97 percent passing in Clear Creek, for example. The Texas Education Agency is expected to release statewide results Friday."
Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2012: Student demographics change at some Texas schools
"Much of the state's enrollment increase is made up of children from low-income families, which could affect the state's future prosperity depending on how state leaders and legislators handle the new reality."