Districts Avoid School Finance Lawsuits, Cite Finances

More than half of the school districts in Texas, representing roughly 3.5 million students — or 75 percent of the overall total — have signed on to sue the state over the way it funds public schools.

But fewer than 500 districts haven’t. Many of those districts, already facing budget cuts, say they just don’t have the resources.

As of Monday, 451 out of the 1,024 Texas school districts haven’t joined one of the five lawsuits, according to Ray Freeman, deputy executive director of the Equity Center, a public education advocacy organization that is also bringing one of the lawsuits.

Four of the lawsuits challenge the state on whether it has given enough money to schools. A fifth lawsuit has also been filed, not by school districts but by a group of parents who support charter schools. It questions how the money that the state gives to schools is spent.

Last week, a judge indicated that a trial would probably begin in early October and allowed the first four lawsuits filed by school districts to be consolidated into one, according to the Austin-American Statesman.

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