State District Judge John Dietz ruled Monday, February 4, that the system Texas uses to fund public education is unconstitutional. The ruling came at the conclusion of a trial brought by hundreds of Texas school districts against the state of Texas that began in October of last year.

Judge Dietz held that the school finance system has evolved into an unconstitutional state property tax and that the system fails to provide the plaintiff districts access to enough funding to provide a constitutionally adequate education.

"We applaud Judge Dietz's ruling, which is an initial victory for students, parents and educators," said RISD Superintendent Dr. Kay Waggoner. "It is the critical first step in bringing adequate funding to all Texas school districts." The ruling is widely expected to be appealed by the state of Texas, eventually or directly to the Texas Supreme Court.

Mark Trachtenberg, a partner with Haynes and Boone, LLP, and one of the attorneys representing the group of school districts that includes RISD, said "Judge Dietz's ruling is the first step in an important process. While we expect that the Texas Supreme Court will ultimately have its say, there is no reason why the Legislature has to wait on the appeals process before addressing the constitutional deficiencies in the system. Because of statutory mandates, rising academic standards, and declining state funding, districts have lost meaningful discretion over their local property tax rates and have no opportunity to provide enrichment programming desired by their local communities."

Richard Matkin, Plano ISD's Superintendent, said he is "extremely pleased that the court ruled in favor of Texas school children. We have long said that Plano ISD needs the ability to locally fund the level of education that is expected by our school community. Judge Dietz clearly laid a path for our Legislature to return local and state funding taken from school districts since the last ruling. Although Plano ISD is our focus and responsibility, our goal is to ensure that the Legislature provides adequate funding to all districts."

Story courtesy of Plano ISD and Richardson ISD