Now this is more like it. A lawsuit about Texas schools that focuses on what’s wrong, instead of how to throw more money at the system:
The lawsuit represents a new angle on the funding issue — one that focuses not on whether the state adequately pays for schools but rather if the way it distributes money is efficient and equitable. The plaintiffs, including a group called Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education, believe that the system has not offered enough choice to parents who want to put their children in good public schools. (Texas Tribune, “Fifth Texas School Finance Suit Focuses on Efficiency”)
Isn’t this marvelous? Imagine the audacity! Looking at a fundamentally broken system, one that everyone agrees needs serious improvement, and asking first to address the problems instead of prettying them up. The suit quotes the Edgewood IV (commonly known as West Orange Cove II) opinion: “…money is not the only issue, nor is more money the only solution.” The same opinion suggested that competition in education options may be a viable solution, but that none of the plaintiffs thus far have brought it up.
Well, consider this “challenge accepted.”
We know the part of this that will make every queasy-stomached tax-and-spender lose their government-approved lunches, of course. The very idea that choices, alternatives, may be offered as possible solutions. They just can’t fathom the idea that educating the children must be the priority – admitting failure is beyond them, because that might mean that they were taxing and spending wastefully all this time. Equity means little if the money isn’t being used efficiently. The Texas Constitution could not be more explicit on this matter.
Parents would do well to champion this suit above the others filed against the state. Efficiency is the keyword in the state constitution. If our schools aren’t doing that, everything else is secondary, because we’ve increased funding and spent until we literally cannot afford more.
Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education. What a novel idea!
