High Court Says No!!

Katy Citizen Watchdog$

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High Court Says No!!

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At the December 12^th General School Board Meeting Dr. Merrell gave a short speech on his interpretation of what the West Orange Cove Lawsuit means to the schools and taxpayers of Texas. Once again we all heard Dr. Merrell talk out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, we heard the same old statement that our property taxes are too high, but in the same breath we heard that more money is needed by the district and that “it has to come from somewhere.” At no time did Dr. Merrell suggest that the district figure out how to cut expenses and live within its means. I personally have grown very weary of this continued finger pointing by our Superintendent that all of Katy ISD’s woes are due to the empty suits and skirts in Austin.

For those of you that don’t know what the West Orange suit was about, simply stated it was a suit filed by several Texas school districts in the hopes of making the Texas Supreme Court force the state legislature to throw more money into public education. Fortunately, our high court had the good sense to reject the plaintiffs’ arguments. The best part is that the Court ruled that the old “Robin Hood” approach to school finance (you know, stealing from the rich to give to the poor) was unconstitutional and told the legislature to figure it out by June 1, 2006 or else Texas public schools will not open in the fall. Spend a moment and take a look at the recent Houston Chronicle article (11-23-05) entitled “Lawmakers To Give Property Tax Relief” under the “In The News” tab on our Web site.

On June 23, 2005 Sandra Bretting, with the Houston Chronicle, reported, in a story entitled “School District Turns to Court for Solution/Katy Among Plaintiffs Seeking Finance Reform, that KATY ISD CONTRIBUTED $70,000.00 TO THIS EFFORT. Yes, your Superintendent and elected School Board members approved an expenditure of $35,000.00 in October of 2003 and another $35,000.00 payment in June 2005. This is $70,000.00 of taxpayer money that they have recklessly given to the plaintiffs’ lawyers! This is absolutely unbelievable to me! What other monies is the district using to lobby against what taxpayers want? Our group has asked these questions publicly on several occasions but to date our questions have only been met with stoic silence by both our Superintendent and our Board. The Watchdog$ have made it very clear that we do not approve of our school district spending tax dollars to lobby our legislature, especially when their lobby efforts go against common sense, but more importantly, being spent on positions that are contrary to what taxpayers want.

Don’t believe for a minute that this idea of suing state legislatures is a new concept. There have been several school districts across the U.S. that have successfully sued their legislatures in a bid to increase school funding. Fox News reported in a December 23^rd on-line article that the New York Supreme Court ordered its state legislature to increase school funding by $23.3 billion over the next four (4) years! Fortunately for us, our Court was the first court to “just say no” to special interests. I hope that other state courts are watching and will have the courage and fortitude to stand up to special interest groups.

The Watchdog$ do not believe that throwing money at a problem ever solves the problem. Furthermore, the Watchdog$ don’t believe that there is any direct correlation between truckloads of cash and quality education. The Court’s majority opinion states “While the end-product of public education is related to the resources available for its use…more money does not guarantee better schools or more educated students.” The Court goes on to state that, “structural changes, and not merely increased funding, are needed in the public education system.” The Watchdog$ couldn’t have said it any better.

You should also know that all of the plaintiffs in this case were school districts. There was not one single parent, parent group or organization that was a party to this suit. Justice Scott A. Brister, the sole dissenting opinion, notes that the Texas State Constitution’s “education guarantee is a right that belongs to school children rather than school districts.”

The fact of the matter is that you, the taxpayer, are not being represented properly in this school finance morass. It’s the special interests – superintendents, teacher unions, school administration groups, state agencies, etc. – that are tying up our legislators with their own agendas. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not crying “foul” for the empty suits and skirts in Austin, but what I am saying is that as usual, we, the taxpayer, are not being heard in Austin due to the tremendous lobbying efforts by special interest groups. Don’t think for a second that these cash engorged lobby groups are exclusive to the federal arena.

Our friends at “Americans For Prosperity” have been keeping the Watchdog$ apprised of our legislature’s efforts/failures in trying to tackle the school finance reform issue. Representative Kent Grusendorf, of Arlington, who is the chairman of the House Education Committee, states that his group will be working on several education reforms during the upcoming special session in ‘06. Those reforms include: district consolidation, school choice, merit pay increases for teachers, as well as trying to curtail lobbying by school districts. I just hope that Austin will focus and try and make changes based on what taxpayers want, not special interests.

So what does all of this mean to you, the taxpayer? Well, it’s been what our group has been saying all along, and that is we all need to get involved. I hope that you are now asking yourself, “how do I get involved?” Well, how about joining the Watchdog$, or join “Americans For Prosperity”, or contact your Texas representatives directly. We need to let our state legislators know that we want meaningful school finance reform and that we demand property tax relief. Tell Dr. Merrell, along with all of your elected School Board Members, that you do not want Katy ISD using taxpayer money to lobby our legislature.

As I have said before, Katy ISD, along with all the other school districts in Texas and the nation, need to figure out how to live within their means. After all, I thought the word “Independent”, as in the “Katy Independent School District”, meant just that, non-dependent. Dr. Merrell, we need to put away the “tin cup” and begin to tackle the very tough issue of cutting expenses and figuring out how this district can live within its means.

Stay tuned, because the Watchdog$ are working on another editorial dealing with possible scenarios in helping to balance the district’s budget.

Chris Cottrell, Katy Citizen Watchdog$

Date: 1/06/2006