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Zombie Night at the Shooting Range

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Orange Impostor2/04/2013 4:31:14 pm PST

This is starting to become a broken record in Texas.

Judge: Texas school funding system is unconstitutional

AUSTIN (AP) — The system Texas uses to fund public schools violates the state’s constitution by not providing enough money to school districts and failing to distribute the money in a fair way, a judge ruled Monday in a landmark decision that could force the Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education.

Shortly after listening to closing arguments, Judge John Dietz ruled the funding mechanism does not meet the constitutional requirement for a fair and efficient system that provides a general diffusion of knowledge.

The state is expected to appeal the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court. This was the sixth case of its kind since 1984. In 2005, Dietz found the previous funding system unconstitutional and directed the Legislature to devise a new one.
[…]
Texas does not have a state income tax, meaning it relies on local property taxes to fund its schools. But attorneys for the school districts said the bottom 15 percent of the state’s poorest districts tax average 8 cents more than the wealthiest 15 percent of districts but receive about $43,000 less per classroom.

Public schools in Texas are being run under a “reverse Robin Hood” system, where the bulk of funding comes from poorer districts, but the money gets funneled to the wealthiest districts.