AISD Joins School Districts in Litigation Against the State of Texas

On Monday, October 24th, the Austin Independent School District approved the recommendation to join a lawsuit being filed by a group of school districts against the state of Texas. The unanimous vote by the school board puts the AISD in a group with more than 150 other school districts in the state of Texas which are jointly filing several different lawsuits in an effort to persuade the Legislature to overhaul the state school finance system and provide the funding the schools need to provide an adequate education to the students which they serve, as well as change the methods by which the schools receive funding, which some have deemed unconstitutional.

These lawsuits are varied but seem to highlight three main claims or complaints:

1) School Funding is Inadequate. In the midst of the school funding crisis earlier this year, after the Legislature cut billions to the education budget, school districts were faced with letting go thousands of teachers and staff. Austin alone was forced to terminate more than 1000 jobs within the school system, prompting a crisis which has now culminated in this lawsuit which some say may be the only way of affecting a change within the Legislature.

2) The Current System is Unconstitutional. The school boards claim that the current system amounts to a statewide property tax, which is unconstitutional.

3) School Funding Distribution is Arbitrary. Claims have been made that wealthier districts have been less affected by the substantial educational budget cuts of the recent 82^nd Legislature, and that the way the funding for schools is raised and distributed is not clear cut or standardized. For example, an article in the Statesman states that the Jarrell school district in Williamson County has $6490 to spend per student this year, whereas nearby Granger, which taxes its property owners at the same rate, has $1447 less per student. Granger is among the school districts filing lawsuits against the state of Texas.

I, for one, fully support the school districts in their effort to reform the state school finance system. The Texas Constitution requires that the Legislature provide an “efficient system of free public schools,” a requirement that is obviously not being met, as is evidenced by the growing number of school districts showing their dissatisfaction through the pursuit of litigation. As the fastest growing state in the U.S., the emphasis we place on education is going to determine our future and success as a state, and as a nation. The equality of opportunity we offer the children born into our state will be a huge factor in determining their success, their contribution to society, and their initiative and industry. These children are the future of our state; we should be doing everything in our power to ensure their success by supplying the tools and finances their educators need to be facilitators in their lives, providing them with every opportunity we would wish for in our own children’s lives. All I can say is that I wish the Legislature had realized this before so as to avoid the no doubt hundreds of millions of dollars in lawyers' fees and man-hours which I can guarantee will be spent on the lawsuits now being filed.

A Review: How Would Rick Perry as President Affect Women Nation-wide?

Rachel Farris, well-known democrat and social media expert, writes her opinion about what America will be like for women if Rick Perry is elected to presidency in a humorous and scathing article on her popular blog, Mean Rachel. Farris uses examples of legislation supported by Perry within Texas and takes a guess at what this might look like on a national level, citing such controversial issues as Perry’s stance on contraception; the recent House Bill 15 which now requires women requesting an abortion to first have an ultrasound performed in which the doctor is required to show the image of the baby to the woman and require her to listen to the baby’s heartbeat; cuts to funding in women’s health and education, and more. Farris forcefully presents her arguments as to why a Rick Perry presidency would be detrimental to women. She is convincing and yet still manages to introduce elements of the humorous throughout, making the article an enjoyable read, I think regardless of political stance.

One of the issues mentioned by Farris is the reductions in women’s healthcare funds. As her article is short and to the point, I was interested to research the exact legislation Farris referred to. The results I found were shocking: recent laws have cut the funding for family planning clinics by nearly two-thirds! According to a recent NPR article this is a devastating blow to the underprivileged woman of Texas. "That particular funding was used obviously for birth control, but also pap smears, breast cancer screening, for diabetes, thyroid disorders, anemia [and] high cholesterol," states Dr. Celia Neavel of the People’s Community Clinic in East Austin.

When explaining House Bill 15, Farris cites an article explaining the fact that in many cases the fetus cannot be seen during the early stages of pregnancy without a transvaginal sonogram, an invasive procedure. I am curious as to how the Texas Congress could even pass a bill that makes an invasive procedure mandatory for a woman making a choice to get an abortion during early pregnancy? Furthermore, if the funding for contraceptives is being reduced, how are underprivileged women who are not able to afford more children, able to prevent situations in which they feel an abortion is necessary? Perry argues for abstinence but in a state that ranks third in teen pregnancies, our abstinence education programs simply don’t seem to be doing the trick. It seems to me that if the governor wishes to prevent abortions from taking place, finances should be invested into continued women’s healthcare and education, not taken away from it.