School Financing Trial Starting in Texas

Everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie

Lawyers for hundreds of Texas school districts besieged by rapid population growth and deep budget cuts argue in a massive school finance trial opening Monday that the state has failed to fund public education
adequately and resolve inequities among districts.

Lawsuits filed by six groups have been merged into a single trial in an Austin courtroom that could last for several months. The legal action was brought on behalf of about 650 of the state's 1,000-plus school districts, accounting for some 3.7 million of Texas' 5 million school children.