ECISD to weigh options of joining lawsuit against state

The unequal funding formulas and massive budget cuts across Texas have prompted four separate lawsuits against the state questioning the constitutionality of its funding. Now Ector County board members will decide which, if any, legal team will represent them if they join a suit.

The lawsuits represent different school districts across the state, and while there are slight discrepancies in the suits, all of the litigations argue the state’s funding formula is inadequate and the taxing revenue system is unfair.

The school finance issues have been a hot topic since state legislatures cut more than $5 billion from public education last session in attempt to narrow its deficit of about $27 billion.

Ector County Independent School District did not surface unscathed by the reductions.

This school year, the state cut the district’s budget $11.3 million, leading to the elimination of several district programs and 104 positions, through attrition and non-renewals of contracts.

At Tuesday’s ECISD board meeting, a representative from the Houston-based Thompson and Horton law firm will give a presentation on the school finance litigation they filed against the state on December 22 with 63 Texas school districts named as plaintiffs. The lawsuit represents a variety of school districts including Midland Independent School District and the state’s largest district, Houston Independent School District.

The lawsuit claims, there are two problems with the state’s funding formula; first the target revenue, “which locks many districts into static, arbitrary funding levels regardless of increased needs” and a “long-standing based system that has not been validated or updated in decades,” the suit states.

Tom Pace, ECISD board president, said the current funding formula issues date back to 2006. He said he was unsure how ECISD compared in the state financially, but knew it was not considered to be a property-wealthy district.

“I think the general consensus throughout the state’s school funding is that there’s no fair distribution of funding,” Pace said.

In December, ECISD board members were presented with alternative litigation options by the Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition, which has about 380 districts represented.

This suit, organized by the Equity Center, consists of mainly middle to low property wealth school districts who argue the state’s tax revenue system created in 2006 is unfair for property-poor districts.

Pace said if the other board members vote to join one of the lawsuits, he imagines it will either be through the Equity Center or Thompson and Horton’s litigations. He said he will decide which litigation he prefers after the presentation tonight, but he will vote to join one.

Ray Beaty, ECISD board vice president, said he wanted to hear the presentation Tuesday before forming any opinion on joining any of the school finance litigations.

“I think it’s always important to look at all options,” he said, acknowledging several districts are unhappy with the current system. “There definitely needs to be some work done on it.”

There were two additional law suits filed in December; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and the Texas School Coalition.

MALDEF’s suit fights mainly for property-poor school districts which claim the state inadequately funds low income and English Language Learner students through an “arbitrary funding process” and the state’s taxing regulation is “unconstitutional.”

The Texas School Coalition, comprised mainly of property wealthy districts, has joined the fight to ensure the state does not place its own financial responsibility of funding education on the taxpayers.

All four of the suits include a variety of districts that are rich, poor, small, large and all unhappy with the state’s current funding formula.

Most speculate the suits will join forces in the end when the suits reach court in as early as fall 2012.

@OAschools