In a decision certain to be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, state district Judge John Dietz ruled Monday in favor of more than 600 school districts on all of their major claims against the state's school finance system. With a swift ruling issued from the bench shortly after the state finished its closing arguments, Dietz said the state does not adequately or efficiently fund public schools -- and that it has created an unconstitutional de-facto property tax in shifting the burden of paying for them to the local level.
"There is no free lunch," he said, "We either want increased standards and are willing to pay the price, or we don't."
Dietz said that issues raised by another party in the lawsuit, Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education -- a group representing parents, school choice advocates and the business community that argued the current system was inefficient and overregulated -- were better solved by the Legislature. He also declined to find the state cap on charter school contracts, or their lack of access to facilities funding, unconstitutional.
Moments after Dietz spoke, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams issued a statement emphasizing that the ruling is "simply one step on this litigation's path."
"All sides have known that, regardless of the outcome at the district level, final resolution will not come until this case reaches the Texas Supreme Court," he said, "I'm appreciative of the strong case presented by the Attorney General's Office on behalf of the state. The Texas Education Agency will continue to carry out its mission of serving the students and educators across our state."
Original story:
A ruling from state District Judge John Dietz is expected Monday afternoon in the sweeping school finance trial involving more than 600 school districts that began Oct. 22.
The districts, which serve three-fourths of the state's 5 million public school students, argue that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to adequately fund public education. They sued following a $5.4 billion state budget cut lawmakers passed in 2011, just before the state transitioned to a rigorous new student assessment and accountability system.
"Texas should be ashamed. These numbers don't lie, and yet this is the system that our kids are being educated in," said Rick Gray, an attorney for the districts. "The evidence is clear that money matters. Money spent wisely matters. Whether you look at SAT scores, ACT scores, dropout rates, those that have more, do better."
Along with the state, all six parties in the lawsuit --four groups of school districts, charter schools, and a coalition of business interests and school choice advocates -- are delivering their closing arguments Monday. Before the court broke for lunch, lawyers for the districts and charters reviewed key pieces of testimony presented by the long line of school finance experts, superintendents, parents, state education officials and national policy researchers who have served as witnessses over the past three months.
The court will reconvene at 1:30 Monday afternoon to hear from the state and the final group of plaintiffs.
While school districts have sued the state over funding six times since 1984, there are new players in the courtroom this time. The interests of charter schools, which have existed in the state since 1995, and school choice advocates are represented in the litigation for the first time.
Lawyers for the charter schools argue that they have been short-changed by the state because they do not have access to the same funding for facilities as traditional school districts. Their lawsuit also attacks the "arbitrary" limit of 215 charter contracts that the state may grant.
Dietz also served as the trial court judge during the most recent round of litigation in 2004. Whatever he decides will probably be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. If the final decision is in favor of the school districts, it will be up to the Legislature to restructure the system.
Lead budget writers in the House and Senate indicate that lawmakers are not inclined to tackle the question of whether to restore the eliminated funds -- or how the state delivers money to districts-- during the current legislative session. At a Texas Tribune forum last week, state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said that they believed funding levels wouldn't be re-examined until a special session, likely in 2014. They expressed views common among many lawmakers that the consequences of last session's cuts have not been as dire as predicted.
"We've grown a little cottage industry here in Austin to sue the Legislature over school finance," said Williams, who accused attorneys involved in the lawsuit of "egging" the districts on.
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