Surely no one is surprised by this.
The system Texas uses to fund public schools violates the state’s constitution by not providing enough money and failing to distribute the money in a fair way, a judge ruled Monday in a landmark decision that could force the Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education.
Shortly after listening to closing arguments, Judge John Dietz called the funding mechanism unconstitutional. He has promised to issue a detailed, written decision soon. The trial took more than 240 hours in court and 10,000 exhibits to get this far.
Judge Dietz made the ruling in the last lawsuit, in 2005, and apparently referenced that in giving his decision from the bench. He will hand down his written opinion at a later date. There’s a ton more detail to come on this – for now, Twitter is your best reference; try searching hashtag #schoolfinancetrial – but I’m sure millions of words will follow elsewhere. So far what we do know is that Judge Dietz found in favor of the school districts on “property tax, equity, and adequacy claims”. He ruled that the cap on charter schools did not violate the constitution, saying that claim and the claims made by TREE are matters for the Legislature. Beyond that, we know that this will be appealed to the Supreme Court, we know that budget writers like Rep. Jim Pitts and Sen. Tommy Williams, along with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, have spoken about setting some money aside in anticipation of such a ruling, and we know that unless the Supreme Court substantially reverses this ruling, there will be at least one special session next year. Fasten your seat belts, etc etc etc. Trail Blazers has more.
UPDATE: Here’s coverage from the Observer and the Trib. I also have statements galore, from the CPPP, MALC, Sen. Jose Rodriguez, Sen. Rodney Ellis, Sen. Kirk Watson, Sen. Wendy Davis, Rep. Mike Villarreal, Rep. Carol Alvarado, Rep. Jessica Farrar, Rep. Donna Howard, and Texans Deserve Great Schools, who seem to be missing the point. Finally, I now have a copy of Judge Dietz’s ruling and the LBB chart mentioned in the ruling.
UPDATE: Stace has more reactions, and Lone Star Ma chimes in.
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