DALLAS — A panel of 22 Texas lawmakers has been formed to conduct a comprehensive review of the state’s school finance system in the wake of five recent lawsuits challenging how Texas funds local school districts.
Members of the joint interim committee were appointed Feb. 29 by Lieut. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Creation of the study group was authorized in Senate Bill 1, the appropriations budget bill that was passed at the end of 2011’s special legislative session.
The Joint Interim Committee to Study the Public School Finance System includes 11 senators and 11 representatives. Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, will serve as co-chairs.
The study panel will present its recommendations to the 83d Legislature, which will convene in January 2013. No meeting schedule has been announced.
The 82d Legislature cut aid to the 1,030 local school districts and 207 charter school operators in Texas by $5.4 billion over fiscal 2012 and 2013.
More money was appropriated than in the previous biennial budget, but lawmakers did not fund local education to the level required by the state’s formula due to enrollment growth.
Despite the funding gap, Straus and Dewhurst said public education is the Legislature’s top priority.
“The future of Texas is being forged in our classrooms every day,” Dewhurst said.
“Nothing will make a greater difference in the future of our state than the willingness of all Texans to put education first,” Straus said.
Plaintiffs in the five suits challenging the constitutionality of how Texas funds its public schools represent more than 500 independent school districts with an enrollment of 3 million.
Though each suit has a separate focus, all contend that the current system of public education in Texas does not meet the state constitutional requirement for an efficient system of public education.
The suits are expected to be combined into a single trial in a Travis County state district court.
Linda Bridges, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said creation of the legislative panel doesn’t deter the group’s plans for a March 24 rally in Austin.
More than 30,000 school jobs have been cut as a result of the decline in state aid, she said.
“Statewide, we’ve seen larger class sizes, lack of instructional materials, and loss of programs to help struggling students succeed,” she said.
“Last year we gathered by the thousands to protest these cuts but were rebuffed by some politicians who claimed that schools would do just fine, that the planned cuts would be absorbed outside the classroom,” Bridges said. “That story line didn’t fool us then, and it doesn’t wash now.”
Last month, Bridges’ group called for a special legislative session to tap the state’s rainy-day fund to restore the funding cuts. Gov. Rick Perry rejected the proposal.
