Court Voids Texas School-Funding System

The Texas Supreme Court found “glaring disparities” between the state’s rich and poor school districts and ruled Monday that funding within the nation’s second-largest system is unconstitutional.

Spending varies by as much as $17,000 per pupil per year from rich to poor districts, the court found.

“A remedy is long overdue,” Justice Oscar Mauzy’s opinion said. “The Legislature must take immediate action.”

Enormous Implications

The 9-0 ruling could have enormous financial and social implications for the 3.3-million-student Texas school system, second in size to California’s.

The court found that the public school finance system violates the 113-year-old constitutional provision for an “efficient system” of public schools. It set a May 1, 1990, deadline for legislators to find a solution.

State attorneys had argued that the word “efficient” was intended to suggest a “simple and inexpensive system.”

But the court said: “The state’s school financing system is neither financially efficient nor efficient in the sense of providing for a ‘general diffusion of knowledge’ statewide.

“It must be recognized that the constitution requires an ‘efficient,’ not an ‘economical,’ ‘inexpensive’ or ‘cheap’ system,” Mauzy said.

“A Band-Aid will not suffice; the system itself must be changed,” the court warned.

Special Session Planned

Gov. Bill Clements said that he will call a special 30-day session of the Legislature in the spring. Nearly $10 billion in state money will be made available for public schools in 1990-91, and almost $12 billion is expected to come from local districts.

A state district judge in Austin had ruled that the school funding system was unconstitutional in a case brought by school districts with low property values against the state education commissioner and others. That ruling was overturned last December by a 2-1 vote of the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit, known as Edgewood vs. Kirby, was filed in 1984. Public schools are funded largely through a combination of local property taxes and state aid. The federal government also contributes.

Because of the disparities in district property wealth, annual spending per student ranges from $2,112 to $19,333, the high court said.

The case got its title from the lead plaintiff, Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, and lead defendant, William Kirby, education commissioner.

Edgewood School Supt. James Vasquez led about 1,800 students and teachers in a celebration rally Monday. The high school’s marching band played and students waved banners with sayings like “Victory” and “Edgewood All the Way.” A marquee at the stadium’s entrance read “Texas Children 9, Kirby 0.”

‘Toughest’ District

“Today, we can begin to say we’re no longer the poorest school district in Texas--we’re the toughest,” Vasquez told cheering students and teachers. “We took on the state of Texas and we beat ‘em.”

In Dallas, Education Commissioner Kirby said, “As the lead defendant in this case, I have been required to defend the constitutionality of the system. But I have always maintained that it is not adequate and have pressed for additional amounts of money to improve equity.”

Olivia Besteiro, president of the Texas State Teachers Assn., said, “History will mark this day as the opening of the door to opportunity for tens of thousands, even millions, of children. These children have been the victims of ‘segregated’ opportunity determined by a geographical roll of the dice.”