I can't speak to #1, but as for #2 Texas's educational system outperforms California's when you look specifically at Blacks, Hispanics, and poor people. See fo

I can't speak to #1, but as for #2 Texas's educational system outperforms California's when you look specifically at Blacks, Hispanics, and poor people. See for example http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?app=NDE&p=2-MAT-2-20133%2c20113%2c20093%2c20073%2c20053%2c20033%2c20003%2c20002%2c19963%2c19962%2c19922%2c19902-MRPCM-SDRACE-NP%2cAL%2cAK%2cAZ%2cAR%2cCA%2cCO%2cCT%2cDE%2cDC%2cFL%2cGA%2cHI%2cID%2cIL%2cIN%2cIA%2cKS%2cKY%2cLA%2cME%2cMD%2cMA%2cMI%2cMN%2cMS%2cMO%2cMT%2cNE%2cNV%2cNH%2cNJ%2cNM%2cNY%2cNC%2cND%2cOH%2cOK%2cOR%2cPA%2cRI%2cSC%2cSD%2cTN%2cTX%2cUT%2cVT%2cVA%2cWA%2cWV%2cWI%2cWY%2cDS-MN_MN-Y_J-0-0-37 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/report.aspx?ap... which is the 8th grade math score on NAEP by ethnicity. California scores 258 for blacks and 263 for Hispanics (and 291 for whites). Texas scores 273 for blacks, 281 for Hispanics, 300 for whites. Similarly, if you look at the scores for students eligible for free or reduced price lunches, California is at 264 and Texas is at 279. Overall, the demographics of the two states are not that different; see http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2013/#/comparison-graphs?st0=CA&st1=TX http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2013/#/comparison-... near the bottom. The big difference is that California has a lot more Asians and Texas has a lot more blacks. But even the fact that Asians on average score higher than blacks on these tests is not enough to overcome the fact that on an race group by race basis Texas scores so much better than California. Theories as to why abound; everyone has their favorite theory that matches their politics, which makes me slightly doubt all of them. I'd really like to know what's going on there, though, because it seems like Texas schools are consistently doing something less wrong than California ones...