LOHE LAWSUIT FILED BY LA FERIA AND JOAQUIN ISDs AGAINST TX COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION

I just learned about this lawsuit.  School funding politics in Texas continue. Thought I would share. -Angela

SCHOOL DISTRICTS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST TX COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION COMMISSIONER'S DECISION SPENDS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS FOR A SMALL NUMBER OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Two Texas school districts have filed a lawsuit against Commissioner of Education Mike Morath, the Texas Education Agency, and the State Board of Education today in Travis County District Court. La Feria and Joaquin independent school districts are alleging the Commissioner failed to follow requirements in the Texas Administrative Code by unilaterally changing a long­standing rule adopted by the State Board of Education. Left unchallenged, this change will take hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be available to fund public education for all districts and charter schools and funnel those funds to a select few.

La Feria ISD and Joaquin ISD, in conjunction with the Equity Center, joined together to oppose the February 1, 2017 change by the Texas Education Agency to a long­standing provision of the Texas Administrative Code, resulting in an immediate cost to the state budget of more than $80 million for the current year and hundreds of millions for the next biennium.

Ray Freeman, Executive Director of the Equity Center, stated, "This decision spends hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for tax cuts for a small number of school districts at the expense of all others.  Several school districts reached out to our association looking for relief, and this legal action will ideally give the legislature the opportunity to address this issue to save the state revenue and avoid reducing resources for every other district in the state. If the state's budget going forward is as tight as everyone says, we can ill afford to spend any of it inefficiently or irrationally."

Freeman added, "If this benefit is good enough for one taxpayer and school district, it should be good enough for all taxpayers and school districts. Taxpayers deserve better than special deals for a small group of schools."

The rule that determines taxable value for school funding purposes had been honored by 6 previous commissioners. This "change by letter" results in the State picking up the tab for one­ half the cost of local option homestead exemptions for the wealthiest districts and their taxpayers, but not providing the same benefit for all other Texas districts and taxpayers in similar circumstances.  Effectively, the Commissioner of Education chose to have the state of Texas pay for tax cuts for a select group of school districts at the expense of the rest of the school districts and taxpayers in the state.

Richard Gray IV, with Gray & Becker added, "The Education Code provides that the mission of the public education system of this state is to ensure that all Texas children have access to a quality education that enables them to achieve their potential and fully participate now and in the future in the social, economic, and educational opportunities of our state and nation. The recent actions of the Commissioner, conducted outside of the mandatory Administrative Procedures Act requirements, work squarely against that mission and will result in benefits flowing only to students in certain property­ wealthy districts of TEA's choosing through an increase in funding while at the same time cutting funding to all other districts in which that funding is arguably more necessary to provide a quality education to their students.  It is estimated that the recent actions of the Commissioner could cost the state close to one billion dollars for the 2018­2019 school year and that cost will only increase in future years. The state's ability to afford this expense will surely be a burden on the state and potentially taxpayers." If you have any questions, please contact us at 512­478­7313 or info@equitycenter.org.