UNION GROVE, TX — The school finance system is broken, and it’s going to take a lawsuit to fix it, financial specialist told representatives from 23 East Texas districts Thursday.
“We’re battling the Legislature to survive,” said Ray Freeman, deputy director of the Equity Center. The Equity Center is leading one of two school finance lawsuits in the state. “We want a unified system that treats us all the same. We’re the second wealthiest state in the U.S., but we fund public education near the bottom.”
Union Grove ISD on Thursday held a meeting, attended by East Texas school officials, to talk with Freeman about the Equity Center’s proposed school finance litigation. Union Grove was among the first districts in East Texas to join in the lawsuit, which is pushing for equity in school funding.
“We all have a different situation,” Union Grove Superintendent Brian Gray said. “We are all different, but we are similar in that we have been underfunded for years.”
While state funding to education has been reduced throughout the years, including a $4 billion cut in the most recent legislative session, unfunded mandates from the state have steadily increased, Gray said.
“It’s fair or it’s not, and the system we have now is not fair,” Freeman said.
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