SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that state funding for Texas schools meets constitutional requirements.
“Despite the imperfections of the current school funding regime, it meets minimum constitutional requirements,” the court ruled.
A group which has fought for the rights of schools fighting for additional funding, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, represents the Edgewood Independent School District which has long been at the center of the state's battle for over school funding.
MALDEF attorney Marisa Bono said today's ruling is very disappointing and harms students who need the additional funding the most. "Less than 30 percent of economically disadvantaged students in the state passed their STAAR test in 2014,” Bono said. “We're talking about four million students."
A number of school districts lined up to say they were not happy with the court's ruling. SAISD superintendent of schools, Pedro Martinez said the district will work with legislators during the upcoming session to better fund the state’s education system.
Upon reviewing Judge Willett’s Supreme Court ruling today, we are disappointed that the Supreme Court of Texas sees the current school finance system as meeting the constitutional minimum requirements. We agree with Judge Willett that Texas needs an education system fit for the 21st century. We look forward to working with the Legislature during the 2017 legislative session to create an education system that is fit to adequately and equitably educate all students in Texas.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised lawmakers,
Today's ruling is a victory for Texas taxpayers and the Texas Constitution. The Supreme Court's decision ends years of wasteful litigation by correctly recognizing that courts do not have the authority to micromanage the State's school finance system. I am grateful for the excellent work of the State's lawyers at the Attorney General's Office, without whom this landmark ruling could not have been achieved.
District 25 State Senator Donna Campbell also issued a statement.
The Texas Supreme Court rightly addressed a legal question and wisely avoided a political one with today's school finance ruling. The decision that Texas meets the constitutional requirement is no surprise to those of us in the Legislature who regularly vote on budgets where 40 percent of general revenue goes to public schools and Texas students achieve among the highest graduation rates in the country. There are still gains that need to be made, and they will be best achieved by improving teacher compensation, expanding school choice, and keeping more local dollars in the community. I look forward to working on these issues next session.
Bono, who represents the Southwest region for MALDEF, said the fight isn't over. She said the ruling boils down to one simple phrase.
"It's bad but it's not bad enough," she said.
To read the Texas Supreme Court's ruling in its entirety click here.