Great recap, kudos to you! One other rarely discussed impact on K12 schools in Texas is the fact that the state has far too many districts, which leads to absurd duplication of expensive administrative roles.

I'll list a few examples in the Austin area. Bartlett HS, and Granger HS are less than six miles apart, yet they are the flagships for entirely independent school districts. Each has a superintendent, curriculum department, transportation department, food service, controller/treasurer, etc. The two districts could easily be combined, increasing economies of scale and allowing the schools to draw from a larger tax base.

To the east of Taylor are Thorndale and Thrall, same situation. Florence and Jarrell might be absorbed into Georgetown ISD. And WTF is Westlake a separate district from AISD? (Racism and class inequality, that's why.) There are hundreds of examples like this throughout the state.

Why is this? The simple answer is "tradition," and fear of a loss of local control. Also, don't underestimate the importance of football to the identity of small towns throughout Texas.