Now that the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s current tax system is unconstitutional but the level of funding to achieve “adequacy” in schools is okay for now, what’s next? Since nobody expects Governor Perry to call another special session prior to the March primaries, there will be a lot of time to analyze the impact of the ruling and play out the various scenarios for the upcoming fight over changing who gets taxed for what. Here’s a roundup of reactions from around the blogs:
State Rep. Aaron Pena, who points to this statement by Retired Judge F. Scott McCown, the jurist who presided over the public school finance cases from 1990-2002. McCown notes that “The Court did not rule that “Robin Hood” or “recapture” is unconstitutional”, though I think everyone expects this to be its death knell.
Eye on Williamson, who also looks at task ahead for the tax reform commission.
PinkDome, who also has reaction from State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte.
It’s from before the ruling, but via Latinos for Texas, State Sen. Kevin Eltife (R, Tyler) thinks that the current status of school finance reform is “an embarrassment”.
Last but not least, the Texas Civil Rights Review is all over this. Try MALDEF’s reaction and their summary of Justice Brister’s dissent for a flavor of what they’ve got.
UPDATE: Houtopia weighs in.