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.