AUSTIN -- School districts that spend more on their students received higher statewide accountability rankings this week than those that spend less, an El Paso Times analysis showed.

Analysis also showed that school districts with the most hard-to-teach students, those who are not English-proficient and those who are economically disadvantaged, rated lower than school districts with fewer such students.

"There is no doubt that money matters," said Dick Lavine, a policy analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low- and middle-income Texans. "It's not the only thing that matters, but you can do a lot more with money than you can do without it."

But a spokesman for a group advocating more-limited government said schools must first spend money more efficiently before asking taxpayers for more.

"We need a lot more education for our dollar long before we start talking about giving these people more money," said Michael Quinn Sullivan, vice president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

How much is enough money for schools to produce well-educated students is at the heart of both courtroom and legislative battles over how Texas pays for public schools.

Republican lawmakers leading the charge to reform the way Texas pays for public education often say throwing money at schools won't fix anything.

School officials who are challenging the constitutionality of the current education-finance system agree that money alone will not raise academic performance but have been pleading with lawmakers to pump more money into schools.

"I've been willing to give them more money all along," said Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, leader of education reform efforts in the House. "But I think, also, we as legislators have a responsibility to make sure that we get better use out of the $33 billion or so we're currently spending."

School officials have said the additional $2.8 billion proposed for the education system is woefully inadequate to bump up the performance of all students.

The Times analysis compared 2005 Texas Education Agency accountability rankings released Monday with the most recent TEA reports on district spending per student from the 2003-04 TEA Academic Excellence Indicator System.

Districts that received the highest TEA ranking, "exemplary," spent an average of $1,534 more per student on instruction than districts rated "academically unacceptable," the lowest ranking. The top-performing districts spent $1,301 more per student than districts rated "acceptable" and $821 more than districts with the second-highest ranking, "recognized."

The El Paso Independent School District was among 19 school districts and 42 charter systems rated unacceptable by the TEA.

El Paso's Burnham Wood Charter School was the only Texas charter system rated exemplary, an honor also accorded to nine school districts in mostly affluent areas.

No El Paso school systems were among the 168 given recognized status. Other El Paso school districts and charter systems were among the nearly 1,000 rated acceptable.

San Elizario Independent School District Superintendent Mike Quatrini, who heads one of the state's poorest districts, said giving the district more money wouldn't necessarily make it an exemplary district.

What he wants lawmakers to do is level the playing field so that school districts in property-poor areas like El Paso can provide students the same quality of education as wealthier areas, such as the Highland Park school district in Dallas, one of the exemplary districts.

"No matter how much money we get, as long as we get the same amount of money every other school district gets, then we're on the same plane," he said.

He said legislators haven't fully accounted for the expense of educating students on the border. Many are from poor families, speak only Spanish and are recent immigrants.

The analysis found about 34 percent of students in exemplary school districts were from poor families, compared with about 74 percent in unacceptable schools. About 53 percent of students in acceptable districts were poor, and about 42 percent were poor in recognized districts.

In school districts ranked exemplary and recognized, about 4 percent had limited English skills, compared with between 7 percent and 8 percent in schools with acceptable and unacceptable scores.

Those students "are already a little behind before we even get them," said Robert Ortega, interim superintendent of the El Paso Independent School District.

More than 80 percent of the EPISD budget goes to paying teachers who can help students overcome those education barriers, Ortega said.

"Money matters because talent in the classroom costs money to hire," said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

Quinn Sullivan, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said the solution is directing more money into the classroom instead of toward superfluous items such as fancy school board rooms and administrative offices.

If school districts with hard-to-teach students concentrated more resources into teaching, Quinn Sullivan said, their performance would improve.

According to the TEA, El Paso school districts in 2002-03 spent about 56 percent of their revenue on instruction and instruction-related expenses.

The state average is 55 percent, and the exemplary Highland Park district in Dallas spent 56 percent.

Lawmakers are working on a reform bill that would require school districts to eventually put 65 percent of their revenue into classroom spending. The reforms would also make school districts give taxpayers more information on their spending.

"What we've found is how they spend the money is much more important" to student performance levels, Grusendorf said.

He said raw test scores such as those evaluated for the TEA rankings don't truly indicate school districts' achievements. He said the focus ought to be on whether individual students improve.

The reforms he has championed would reward teachers whose students do better over time.

"If you listen to the school districts and the educators, there is not enough money in the world," said Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso.

What makes the difference for kids, he said, is parents who take an active role in their children's education.

"There are a lot of kids who got a great education in a one-room schoolhouse in the Old West," he said.