School funding ruled constitutional

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GONZALES — It was a busy week for Texas school districts looking to wrap up their academic year. First, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick ignited a controversy regarding students using campus restrooms and then the Texas Supreme Court announced its ruling stating that the state's funding mechanism for public schools was constitutionally sound.

Patrick appeared in Ft. Worth early last week to protest the superintendent of schools' approval of guidelines meant to protect transgendered students. At a press conference organized by Patrick, he called for the resignation of the official and at the Republican convention in Dallas, stated that he wouldn't mind if the state lost out on billions of dollars of school funding in protest.

His words were in response to the Obama administration sending a directive to schools across the country, calling on them to be supportive and non-discriminatory toward transgendered students and to allow them to use the restroom facility that fits their gender identity. Institutions can have federal dollars withheld if they discriminate based on someone's gender according to Title IX rules.

When reached for comment on how the Gonzales Independent School District would react, Superintendent Dr. Kim Strozier said that they would continue with their current practices regarding the use of restrooms and have made no changes to their practices.

In the district's code of conduct, there is a paragraph that prohibits gender-based harassment “regardless of the student's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” and lists actions that would not be condoned against such students.

On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state's school finance system meets the minimum standards that are demanded by the Texas Constitution despite the opinions of over 500 school districts in the state.

The schools went to court as a result of $5 billion in funding having been cut after the 2011 Legislative Session. They declared that the state simply spends too little for public education and that the current revenue recapture system — known as Robin Hood — is woefully inadequate.

Regardless, former Texas attorney general Gov. Greg Abbott hailed the news as a victory for the state.

"Today's ruling is a victory for Texas taxpayers and the Texas Constitution,” Abbott said. “The Supreme Court's decision ends years of wasteful litigation by correctly recognizing that courts do not have the authority to micromanage the state's school finance system. I am grateful for the excellent work of the state's lawyers at the Attorney General's Office, without whom this landmark ruling could not have been achieved."

Justice Don Willett wrote the opinion of the court, saying that it was not their place to interject but rather the legislature's.

"Texas’s more than five million school children deserve better than serial litigation,” Willett said. “They deserve transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid. They deserve a revamped, nonsclerotic system fit for the 21st century."

Gonzales ISD no doubt had an interest in the ruling. They are classified as a Chapter 41 school — thus required to send some money to the state — as part of the Robin Hood recapture and redistribution scheme. After the ruling, Strozier said that they would charge on as usual.

“Gonzales ISD will continue as planned with normal budget preparations,” Strozier said. “Until we are notified of change that could affect our district we will project our budget as we have in the past. At this time we have received preliminary notice that we will once again be a Chapter 41 district based on 2015 property values. Due to the fact that values have declined as much as 30 percent annually for the past two years the recapture should be substantially decreased if Chapter 41 is indeed in our future for the coming year.”

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