The funding equity lawsuits are coming

Texas has just had an equity in funding lawsuit filed:

The TTSFC petition to the court relies on the earlier Texas cases, Edgewood and West Orange Cove, and alleges that the latest state budget is a reverse Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give to the rich. Plaintiffs ask the court to declare that the school finance system: violates the "efficiency" and "suitable provision" parts of the Texas Constitution; creates an unconstitutional state tax; and, fails to provide legally required "equal protection" to students in low-wealth districts.

Likewise, in California:

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers improperly disregarded Proposition 98’s minimum funding guarantee for education when they diverted billions of dollars in general fund revenues that should have gone to public schools, using the money to pay for other state services instead. Proposition 98, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1988, contains provisions that permit temporary diversions in times of fiscal crisis, but it clearly requires the state to repay the money.

And elsewhere:

Parents, students, and school districts have also challenged funding cuts in New Jersey, North Carolina, and Kansas. Others would like to do the same in lots of states.

Court orders in New Jersey and North Carolina ordered those states to restore certain funding, and the Kansas case is preparing for trial. The NC decision is on appeal.

(h/t Schools Matter)