As early as 1987, the courts have consistently found the Texas education system unconstitutional and this latest ruling only sustains the previous rulings. One would think by now, everybody involved, school districts, lawmakers and taxpayers would at least be on the same page. Texas has never won the argument, yet the problem for public school districts and taxpayers still exists.
‘In 1987, the courts declared the system unconstitutional according to standards of the Texas Constitution and again, in 2013, the same State District Judge John Dietz ‘ruled the funding mechanism does not meet the Texas Constitution's requirements for a fair and efficient system that provides a "general diffusion of knowledge."
In 1991, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment for a lottery, under the pretext that 63 percent of the proceeds would go to prizes, 25 percent would go to education, 5 percent would go to retail commissions, another 5 percent would to cover administration costs and finally, only 2 percent would go to other programs in the state, yet the problem for public school districts and taxpayers still exists.
This ruling doesn’t get that lost $5.4 billion into the bank accounts of public school districts immediately. Texas plans to appeal the decision, which keep this argument in limbo until after the normal session has ended. There will have to be a special session called to address the issue, but not until 2014 and even after that, the problem for public school districts and taxpayers will still exist.
This ruling also assumes the state of Texas is the guilty one. The guilty one here is the ‘Robin Hood Act,’ which redistributes the funds of wealthy school districts in order to help educate students in lower income districts, in which case, according to HISD is very costly, basically because they are spending too much time, teaching English of all subjects.
Now let’s factor in the wealthy, who 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.'
Even after the special session ends next year, the problem for public school districts and taxpayers will still exist.
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