Patricia Upchurch

Law school professors say the Texas Legislature’s proposal to pass school-funding reform through referendum would be a mistake.

As Texas continues to grapple with education funding that is inadequately funded, and fights over school-security programs for teachers that are “too” tight, advocates are calling for a possible statewide initiative to rein in school spending.

A new petition, created by a coalition pushing to pass the Prop 37, asks the voters of California to “elect a state in the state of Texas to defend teaching, protect students, and get school funding back in the hands of parents.”

Earlier this month, the largest teachers union in the country, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), gathered with other school-trustees to sign a statement regarding a statewide move to ask voters to approve school funding reform in the Texas Capitol. The AFT said the charter community may be more at risk of losing special-education services in Texas without the $9.6 million dollars previously paid in order to subsidize programs like K-12 education which are not currently funded in Texas

“We urge our colleagues in the Texas Legislature to join us and hear our calls for school funding reform,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said, as reported by Austin American Statesman. “We can make our case with transparency and openness, without the fear-mongering rhetoric of voucher advocates who use financial duress and fear to sway lawmakers to pass policies they oppose.”

Since the state’s current school-funding formula currently calls for school systems to get what they need through changes in property taxes, Weingarten’s coalition is calling for the legislative package to specify that the school-funding formula is to only rely on the traditional property taxes in effect today. The statement asks that revenues be re-calculated to account for the additional tax powers available to the charter community because of charter school funding.

“Our concern is that this law would only serve to divert a portion of the economic activity of our charter school network that creates and sustains the strength of our nation’s first-class schools,” the statement states. “We want to make sure we have full transparency on how this tax measure is proposed and we seek accountability. We want to provide more transparency so parents understand what is being proposed as well as the details.