Texas lawmakers cut $5.4 billion from public schools nearly 18 months ago, and now districts are headed to court to argue that the resulting system is so inefficient and unfair that it violates the state constitution.
Simply restoring funding to levels prior to the 2011 legislative session won't be enough to fix the fundamentally flawed way Texas funds its schools, lawyers for the districts say. They point out that the cuts have come even as the state requires schools to prepare students for standardized tests that are getting more difficult, and amid a statewide boom in the number of low-income students that are especially costly to educate.
Putting the money back would make things easier, they say.
"That's not all it's about, but that would be a start," said John Turner, an attorney representing about 60 of the school districts suing.
The trial starts Monday in the Austin courtroom of Texas District Judge John Dietz and is expected to last into January. It is the sixth legal battle of its kind since 1984 and involves six lawsuits filed since last October on behalf of about two-thirds of Texas school districts, which in turn educate around 75 percent of the state's roughly 5 million students.
The largest group of plaintiffs is led by the Fort Bend Independent School District outside Houston but includes districts from Amarillo to Abilene to Austin and most points in between, as well as Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio schools.
Districts both in rich and poor parts of the state are on the same side of the case. Texas' funding system relies heavily on property taxes and a "Robin Hood" scheme in which districts with high property values or abundant tax revenue from oil or natural gas resources turn over part of the money they raise to poorer districts.
Many "property wealthy" districts say that while they are in better shape than their poorer counterparts, the system still starves them of funding since local voters who would otherwise support property tax increases to bolster funding for their schools refuse to do so, knowing that most of the money would be sent somewhere else.
Also suing are charter schools, who want state funding for their facilities, and a small number of parents.
All argue that the system defies the Texas Constitution, which promises "a general diffusion of knowledge" by an "efficient system of public free schools."
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office places the blame on individual districts.
"Given the fact that the public education system is founded on local control, success or failure of a school district is necessarily linked to the school district's own leadership, polices and operations," the office said in pretrial brief. "If a local school district fails to provide its students a general diffusion of knowledge, such a result, while unacceptable, does not render the entire public school system unsuitable."
Whatever Dietz decides is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court. If the courts rule against the state, it will be up to the Legislature to remake the system â€" but a high-court ruling may not come in time to tackle the issue during next year's legislative session, said David Thompson, lead attorney for the group of plaintiffs led by the Fort Bend district.
Thompson said "there is no magic bullet" for fixing school finance in Texas, but added, "I would hope, if nothing else, we don't see additional cuts."
沒有留言:
張貼留言