The purpose of this study was three-fold: 1. To determine the amount and direction of changes in sources of funding for the Regional Education Service Centers from 1979 to 1984. 2. To determine the percent of change in programming expenditures of the Regional Education Service Centers from 1979 to 1984. 3. To rate the changes in quality of programming as perceived by the superintendents of the local school districts receiving services from 1979 to 1984. A review of the literature and a brief history of the Regional Education Service Centers of Texas were followed by tabular and narrative descriptions of the findings. Deflated data, to account for inflation, were derived by applying Bureau of Labor statistics formulas to dollar amounts supplied by the Regional Education Service Centers. Each of the five Education Service Centers included in the study experienced a decrease in total funds, due chiefly to a cut in federal and state support. Although local contributions increased in four out of five of the Regions during the five-year period, the net result to the Centers was a decrease in funding ranging from 23.2 percent to 51.8 percent. The impact on programming was severe. Of the nine major services on which data was gathered—media services, data processing, counseling/guidance, special education, migrant education, bus driver training, staff development, drug education/crime prevention, and bilingual education— two had been eliminated in all of the Regions included in the study by 19 84, and some of the Regions had discontinued services in other areas as well. Surveys for rating the services of the Education Service Centers were sent to 126 current superintendents who held the same position in 1979. The results indicated that although fewer dollars had been expended and some services had been eliminated, the quality of programming had not diminished from 1979 to 1984.
