Wealthy Texas districts sue over school finance Corpus Christi Caller

Wealthy Texas districts sue over school finance Corpus Christi Caller

A coalition of about 120 property wealthy Texas school districts filed a lawsuit against the state Friday, alleging that its system of paying for public education is inadequate and unconstitutional.



Six school districts, ranging from Lewisville and Richardson in North Texas to Aransas County on the coast, are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The lawsuit is being handled by the Texas School Coalition, which is made up of school districts that give property tax money back to the state under the socalled Robin Hood school funding plan.



The lawsuit proclaims "the Texas school finance cheap north faces system has reached a crisis stage again."



The schools argue that because so many districts are taxing at the maximum allowable rate, the school property tax has effectively become a statewide property tax, which is unconstitutional in Texas. He said about 20 percent of about 1,030 school districts in Texas are taxing at the maximum rate of $1.17 per $100 of property value. Many districts in the coalition can't tax above a rate of $1.04. Taxing above that rate requires an election and Trachtenberg said voters aren't likely to approve higher taxes when the revenue would go back North Face Jackets Clearance to the state rather than being spent locally.



The schools also argue that the Legislature hasn't been putting enough money into the system to meet the constitutional mandate for an "adequate" education.



"They're failing to provide the resources to provide an adequate education under the state's own standards," attorney John Turner said.



Lawmakers did not pay for about $4 billion in enrollment growth during the most recent legislative session, despite an estimated growth of about 80,000 students a year. The Legislature also cut about $1.4 billion in grant programs such as fullday prekindergarten, afterschool tutoring and dropout prevention programs.



The lawsuit claims the massive cuts have resulted in the loss of thousands of teachers and support staff and led many districts to seek waivers allowing for bigger classes.



Another coalition of schools filed a similar lawsuit in October, alleging the system is unfair, inefficient and unconstitutional.



That one accuses lawmakers of turning a blind eye to the state's troubled school financing system for years and exacerbating the flaws this summer when they slashed public school spending by more than $4 billion to close a massive budget gap.



The school funding system in Texas has been a grievance since the battle of the Alamo, when one of the Texans' complaints was Mexico's failure to establish a public education system. Since then, the Legislature has only undertaken major reform efforts when ordered to do so by the courts.



Most recently, lawmakers implemented a new tax structure, reducing reliance on property taxes and creating a new business tax. Lawmakers adopted the overhaul during a 2006 special legislative session, under court threat of closing public schools. At the time, the Texas Supreme Court warned that the plan would only be a temporary fix.



The suing school districts are Calhoun County, Abernathy, Aransas County, Frisco, Lewisville and Richardson. The Texas Education Agency, Commissioner Robert Scott, Comptroller Susan Combs and the State Board of Education are named as defendants.