Edgewood v. Kirby, 777 S.W.2d 391 (TX 1989)
Supreme Court of Texas.
EDGEWOOD INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Petitioners,
v.
William KIRBY et al., Respondents.
No. C-8353.
Oct. 2, 1989.
Rehearing Denied Oct. 2, 1989.
Appeal was taken from an order of the 250th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Harley
Clark, P.J., which declared that the state school financing system was in violation of the State
Constitution. The Court of Appeals, 761 S.W.2d 859, reversed and rendered. Aggrieved
parties appealed. The Supreme Court, Mauzy, J., held that the school financing system
based in part upon local district financing, which showed a 700 to 1 ratio between value of
taxable property in wealthiest and poorest districts and district spending per student varying
from $2,112 to $19,333, violated state constitutional provision requiring maintenance of an
"efficient" system so as to achieve "general diffusion of knowledge."
Court of Appeals reversed and trial court judgment affirmed as modified.
Earl Luna, Robert E. Luna, Dallas, James W. Deatherage, Power, Deatherage, Tharp &
Blankenship, Irving, Kevin T. O'Hanlon, Office of the Atty. Gen. of Texas, Jim Mattox, Atty.
Gen., Timothy L. Hall, Hughes & Luce, Austin, Jerry Hoodenpyle, Rohne, Hoodenpyle, Lobert
& Myers, Arlington, for respondents.
OPINION
MAUZY, Justice.
At issue is the constitutionality of the Texas system for financing the education of public
school children. Edgewood Independent School District, sixty-seven other school districts,
and numerous individual school children and parents filed suit seeking a declaration that the
Texas school financing system violates the Texas Constitution. The trial court rendered
judgment to that effect and declared that the system violates the Texas Constitution, article I,
section 3, article I, section 19, and article VII, section 1. By a 2-1 vote, the court of appeals
reversed that judgment and declared the system constitutional. 761 S.W.2d 859 (1988). We
reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and, with modification, affirm that of the trial
court.