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Districts win round one in school finance lawsuit: State expected to appeal decision to Texas Supreme Court
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
School districts across Texas are celebrating after District Judge John Dietz ruled in their favor Monday afternoon in a lawsuit against the state relating to the funding of public education.
Dietz ruled that the current school finance system must be overhauled, noting that it could be seen as a statewide property tax, which is unconstitutional in Texas. The state is expected to appeal Dietz's decision to the state Supreme Court.
About two-thirds of the school districts in Texas joined six separate lawsuits filed against the state, which were tried together in Dietz's court.
"State funding has dramatically declined at the same time that academic expectations have dramatically increased," he said in a written statement. "The Constitution requires that districts have access to adequate resources to ensure that all of their students have a meaningful opportunity to meet state expectations and graduate college- or career-ready."
The lawsuits were filed after the Legislature cut $5.4 billion from public education in 2011. Locally, districts were faced with laying off teachers or asking voter approval for tax increases to help cover the funding shortfall.
In Plano ISD, funding decreased by $59 million over a two-year span. Plano ISD Board of Trustees President Tammy Richards said while local education foundations are very helpful in covering budget shortfalls in specific areas, they cannot be asked to come up with the tens of millions of dollars that the state took away from local districts.
Richards also said the cuts did more than just cost employees their jobs; they also directly affected the educational experience of district students.
"The state academic standards have increased at the same time state funding has declined," she said. "In Plano we have a proud heritage of providing an excellent education to all children and we believe very deeply that curricular and extracurricular activities such as fine arts are critical to education. However, the budget cuts in recent years have made that strategy extremely challenging."
Richards said she understands this is only the first step in the legal process, but she has confidence the Supreme Court will rule in a similar fashion.
"Our goals are to make sure the Legislature provides adequate funding to all districts so that no district loses funding and so that local control is protected," she said. "This ruling benefits all children in the state of Texas."
David Thompson, whose firm represented districts including Allen and McKinney as part of the Fort Bend ISD lawsuit, said it will be several weeks before the final order is received from Dietz. When that occurs, it is expected that the state will file an expedited appeal with the Supreme Court, he said, adding that it would likely be about a year before the top court makes its ruling.
"This was an important first step," he said. "The Legislature might very well wait on the Supreme Court, but we feel the judge's ruling today was very strong. The Legislature could go ahead and start the process of fixing our system and we hope that they will do that."
Thompson may not get his wish, however, as several lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Sanford (R-McKinney), have said they believe a special session will be called next year to address school funding.
Sanford's thoughts were echoed by Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who recently told the Texas Tribune education funding was not a high priority during the current session since the final outcome of the lawsuits against the state have not yet been decided.
Thompson said if the Supreme Court rules in the school districts' favor, the Legislature will be tasked with balancing the needs of different districts in coming up with a new funding system.
At that time, districts that are currently allies may find themselves opposing each other when issues such as the future of "Robin Hood" recapture payments are considered, he said.
"Once we get to the Legislature, different groups and different districts are going to want different things - that is just the reality, so we expect that," Thompson explained. "However, until then, we all agree that the system is broken and needs to be fixed."
For continued coverage of local news, follow @Bill_PlanoStar on Twitter.
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