By Joy Diaz, KUT News
AUSTIN – An Austin judge has ruled the state’s school finance system unconstitutional. The ruling validated the arguments made by more than 600 school districts from across the state.
Attorneys representing the districts argued that, at a time when accountability standards in Texas have been raised to the highest point in the state’s history, funding was drastically cut.
Rick Gray is one of the attorneys representing the schools.
RICHARD GRAY: “Texas should be ashamed. These numbers don’t lie, and yet this is the system that our kids are being educated under.”
Attorneys representing the state said the cuts in education were less severe than cuts across every other state department. And that teachers and students rose to the occasion and produced more with less.
But Judge John Dietz did not buy that argument. He said the state will pay a higher cost in lost revenue and services if it decides to not educate its children.
JOHN DIETZ: “We realize that others provided for us when we were children. And just as others provided for us, when we were in school, now is the time that we provide for others.”
The ruling is expected to be appealed to the state supreme court as soon as possible.
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