Lawsuit Targets School-Fund Reform

Four property-wealthy school districts filed suit in Austin against a Texas school finance reform law that requires them to share funds with poorer districts, claiming it is an unconstitutional property tax.

Under the law known as “Robin Hood,” 84 property-wealthy school districts are expected to share $522 million of their property-tax revenue with other districts in the current school year.

The system of wealth-sharing was approved by the Texas Supreme Court in 1995 after it threw out three school funding laws and ordered lawmakers to even out funding available to school districts that had varying property tax bases. Texas has neither an income tax nor a statewide property tax.

The law limits the amount of money school districts can collect to run and maintain their own schools, and about a fifth of the state’s 1,000 districts already have reached the tax ceiling.