Travis County District Judge John Dietz said last week he intends to combine four lawsuits challenging Texas’ school finance laws into a single case. A fifth group of plaintiffs will be included as interveners in one of them.
Dietz said he wants to begin the trial in early October, despite a request from state attorneys for a November date. The case is expected to take at least six weeks.
“If we start in November, you will be spending Christmas with me,” Dietz said in the meeting with attorneys for the plaintiffs and representatives of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, held in Austin.
The suits were filed after the 2011 Legislature cut spending on public education by $4 million in fiscal 2012 and 2013, and did not fund another $1.4 billion of other assistance.
Plaintiffs in the suits represent more than 500 of the state’s 1,200 school districts and more than half of the 5 million students in Texas public schools.
Though the suits have a separate focus, each contends that the current system of public education in Texas does not meet the state constitutional requirement for an efficient system.
If arguments begin in early October, Dietz could issue a ruling by the time the Legislature meets for its biannual session in January.
