If the people felt like in article 8 that they
were voting to keep the state from taxing their
property they were sort of fooled weren't they
several justices questioned last November if
the robin hood plan wasn't an illegal statewide
property tax in disguise at the order of the court
Earlier in the summer, state lawmakers created
188 new county education districts to collect
property taxes
and divide the money evenly between rich and
poor schools within those counties.
Wealthy districts like Carrollton, Farmers
Branch, and Highland Park argued that plan
ordering counties to set a minimum property tax
rate was illegal.
And today, on a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court agreed,
saying the county education districts create an
unconstitutional statewide property tax
and that they illegally levied taxes without an election.
But the high court didn't let lawmakers off the hook,
saying they are still obligated by the
Constitution to be fair to all school students
and ordered the legislature to go back to work
on a plan to equalize funding
between rich and poor school districts.
But the court has given lawmakers 18 months to
do that job.
A plan must be approved for the court's review
by June 1, 1993.
No, the court's given us some time, and I'm
really grateful for that,
because otherwise it was going to mean that the
school kids in Texas were going to suffer,
and I think that's what's foremost on all our minds.
That gives us enough time to determine whether
we think it will be better
to let the courts be more definitive in their
plan or whether we will have a special session
or if there's enough time for us to wait and do
it in a regular session.
It would be better if we could wait, but I'm
not going to put the schools in jeopardy.