MFISD supports school finance ruling

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Although it was not one of the two-thirds of school districts who sued the state almost three years ago, officials from the Marble Falls Independent School District were “encouraged” by the Aug. 28 decision by District Court Judge John Dietz, who deemed the state’s school finance system “unconstitutional” in his 400-page opinion.

More than 600 school districts (including Burnet Consolidated Independent School District), representing around three-fourths of Texas schoolchildren, were involved in the lawsuit. The school finance battle will probably continue to be slugged out in courtrooms because the case is likely to be appealed to the state supreme court.

“MFISD endorsed and supported [the lawsuit] locally, but with that many school districts already involved, we felt our energy would be better spent locally so we could make a difference here,” said Wade Stanford, assistant superintendent of administrative operations, Thursday.

The battle centered on the fairness of the “Robin Hood” arrangement that requires funds from wealthy districts like MFISD to be distributed to less affluent districts in the state. Including the amount budgeted for recapture in the 2014-2015 school year, MFISD has paid more than $16 million back to the state since the 2011-2012 school year, according to the budgets from those four school years.

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.