Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The Texas School Coalition a coalition of 120 Texas school districts has passed a resolution endorsing the hiring of Haynes and Boone LLP to bring a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the states school finance system. The Texas School Coalition believes the
focus should be the States reductions in funding for public education as a whole and not on claims and issues that pit some school districts against others.
Participating school districts plan to bring two principal claims against the State.
- The first a state property tax claim will assert that their districts lack meaningful discretion in setting their local M&O tax rate such that the tax has become a de facto state property tax.
- The second an adequacy claim will assert that districts lack sufficient funding under the current system to provide their students with a constitutionally adequate education in the face of rising academic standards and substantial state budget cuts.
The Coalition believes that successful prosecution of these two claims would help ensure that all school districts receive adequate funding for an excellent education for their students and that all districts have sufficient taxing capacity to provide meaningful local enrichment opportunities.
The group of districts represented by Haynes and Boone does not intend to assert the efficiency" or equity" claims that other groups of school districts
have brought or intend to bring. These claims standing alone implicate the manner in which funds are distributed rather than the overall level of funding in the system.
Mark Trachtenberg one of the principal architects of the last successful round of school finance litigation will be lead counsel in the case for Haynes and Boone. He will be joined by John Turner a litigation partner in the firms Dallas office. Haynes and Boone plans to work alongside another group of districts represented by David Thompson and Philip Fraissinet of Thompson & Horton LLP to assert the state property tax and adequacy claims.
- Successful prosecution of these claims would benefit all Texas school districts resulting in a fairer system that would provide districts the resources to meet rising academic standards.
Haynes and Boone has been in discussions with numerous superintendents and school boards about the coming lawsuit. They anticipate filing the lawsuit by the end of the month or early next month.
- An October 11 press release by the Texas School Coalition erroneously implied that David Thompson of Thompson & Horton LLP would be jointly representing the Texas School Coalition districts. That is incorrect.
Thompson & Horton will separately represent a group of Chapter 42 and some Chapter 41 districts. While Haynes and Boone and Thompson & Horton will be representing separate groups of districts they will cooperate on the two common claims.
