Legislative Updates
The Texas Comptroller has put together a summary of every property tax bill passed during the last legislative session.
The school districts filed their lawsuit on October 10, 2011. The petition alleges that the current school funding finance system is unconstitutional for the following reasons:
Taxpayer equity--Taxpayers in two similar districts are taxed at the same maintenance and operations rate, but the school districts will raise widely different amounts of revenue per weighted student;
Efficiency/Equity--Districts that must achieve a general diffusion of knowledge do not have substantially equal access to available revenues to perform their mission;
Local Supplementation--Local supplementation has created an unequalized system and, therefore, an inefficient system (109 districts raise more revenue than all other school districts);
State Ad Valorem Tax--Over 200 districts are taxing at the $1.17 maintenance operations cap;
Suitability--The State requires higher standards through mandated testing systems, but has cut the funding to the formulas by approximately $4 billion;
Arbitrariness--The funding disparities among school districts demonstrate there are no “guiding rules or principles” used by the Legislature; and
Equal Protection--The school finance system violates the equal protection rights of students in low-wealth districts.