‘Robin Hood’ ruling welcome news

February 04, 2013, 9:00 pm by Adam Troxtell

BCISD Superintendent Keith McBurnett

Area school districts that face having funds recaptured by the state to be distributed to poorer districts along with state funding cuts received welcome news Monday when a district judge ruled the state’s school finance system was unconstitutional.

Known as the "Robin Hood” system, Chapter 41 of the school finance system has been used since the early 1990s to try and redistribute wealth from property rich districts to property poor districts. Travis County District Judge John Dietz Monday ruled the system has evolved into a state property tax, which runs counter to the Texas Constitution.

Dietz was ruling in favor of Calhoun County ISD and 89 other school districts – the majority of which are members of the Texas School Coalition (TSC) – who sued the state over the finance system.

"We fully support Judge Dietz’s ruling,” said Burnet Consolidated ISD Superintendent Keith McBurnett, whose district is part of the TSC. "Every expert I’ve talked to has said it will be appealed. Even if the State Supreme Court finds it unconstitutional, they will still have to push it to the legislature to fix it. I’m not hopeful anything will change quickly.”

For the full story, see Tuesday's Highlander.