School Finance 5342 - week 1

There were many events that happened in our history of educational finance and it was difficult to narrow it down to three that I considered to be the most important. Here are my choices:

1. The first event(s) in Texas during 1839-1849, by Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second President of the Republic of Texas, as the driving force that persuaded the legislature to establish three leagues of in in each county to support education and 50 leagues of land for two universities. Lamar is known as "The Father of Texas Education."

Reason: These land grants provided the initial funding for Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. Even with the county the generous land grants they did not provide adequate resources to fund education, even in the time when Texas was a republic. I do believe this was a first step in the right direction.

2. My second choice is the new Constitution adopted in 1876, changing the laws related to education. The Permanent and Available School Funds was established. A poll ta of $1 per voter was included and it stipulated that one-fourth of general revenues be dedicated to education.

The reason:  The language used was important. It is important because it has been the foundation for school finance lawsuits dealing with adquacy, equity, and efficiency in Texas for many years.

3. My third choice is the series of Edgewood v Kirby lawsuits the final plan (Senate Bill1) was approved by the Texas Supreme Court in 1995 in which wealth would be distributed by having property wealthy districts distribute revenue by selecting one of five methods. Governor Ann Richards signed this  into law in 1993. It is known as the "Robin Hood Plan" and included the key element of revenue recapture.

The reason: The recapture now placed all school districts, regardless of wealth in the position of offering quality programs with limitations to revenue. This resulted in new revenue that was subject to recapture, thus providing little benefit to the school district. The result was a lawsuit titled West Orange-Cove CISD v Neely.