Fed up and filing suit -- A coalition of school districts across the state who are educating more than three million Texas children have launched a wave of law suits against the state over school funding. The suit filed in Austin alleges the current funding system doesn't provide enough money for schools and distributes funds unfairly.
At Somerville ISD it's about quality rather than quantity. With a total of 463 students, a limited supply of teachers and a limited budget, the district has learned to do more with less.
“There is still that level of expectation to provide the same services with less money, less people, less resources and less options but you still have to educate these kids for 180 days,” explained Somerville ISD Superintendent Charles Camarillo.
On top of the growing demand for more rigorous educational standards -- Camarillo says the last straw came as the district was faced with the possibility of a half a million dollar budget reduction -- something the district could not afford.
"When you operate on a budget of $4.5 million like Somerville and you get asked to cut 15 percent, which equates to half a million, that's a significant impact for us," said Camarillo.
So significant - he's taking the issue one step further. More than 500 school district's across the state are filing suit; now Somerville and Snook ISD are joining forces declaring the school funding system unconstitutional.
“Sure enough the Equity Center along with other organizations decided to spearhead this thing and they started recruiting district’s across the state,” added Camarillo.
The idea to file suit was approved by the school board on October 12, 2011. Camarillo said the lawsuit is costing the district around $700.
“What makes it difficult for one district to go at it alone is the shear cost of litigation, and so when you pull all of them together and create some volume relative to the number of schools involved then it minimizes the cost,” said Camarillo.
The battle over budgets is something Camarillo along with other districts have been vehemently fighting since the state axed more than $4 billion from state school funding last year.
Personnel positions have been dissolved and the Somerville Junior High campus has been consolidated and closed.
“We had three campuses and we've taken to the 6th grade and sent it back to the elementary and sent 7th and 8th to the high school,” said Camarillo. “You end up cutting so much that you can't provide the services you were created to provide in the first place. You end up not having operating capital for payroll, transportation to run a school on any given year.”
There are a total of four lawsuits currently on file against the state over school funding and all are expected to be consolidated into a single lawsuit next year. Some are speculating that the case could go to trial late next year, with a ruling in time for the 2013 legislative session.
While sitting in the midst of uncertainty, Camarillo is hoping lawmakers will soon see eye to eye on what he believes is a more fiscally balanced education system.
“I'm hoping they create an equitable system and an appropriate system. I believe it's not fair the way the formulas are designed and I believe education is under-funded, they don't make adjustments for inflation, cost of living, no adjustments for an increasing number of kids that come to school,” he added. “If you're going to put that much pressure on us then allows us the tools and flexibility to make decisions locally to compensate.”
