May 13, 2016

State's largest educator association will continue to fight for public education

The Supreme Court today reversed a lower court ruling that the state’s school finance system is unconstitutional. The court concluded that the funding regime meets minimal standards required by the state constitution. The state’s largest educator group, the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) said today that the court rightfully acknowledged that the current system of funding our schools “is undeniably imperfect” but that the burden to fix it lies with the legislature and not with the courts. Nevertheless, ATPE is naturally disappointed that the court applied such a low standard for evaluating the resources that go into making our public education system work at the same time that students and educators are being held to such high standards.

"It's unfortunate that the Supreme Court has decided the minimum is enough for Texas public school children," ATPE Executive Director Gary Godsey said. "As ATPE has done for years, we will continue to press lawmakers to take responsibility for crafting solutions that will make our school finance system not simply 'minimally' acceptable under the constitution, but in line with all of the state’s other expectations for our public schools. The burden is on the legislature to act, but it is also on voters to elect lawmakers who will have the fortitude to make the necessary decisions."

ATPE hopes that the legislature will respond to today’s decision by working with the input of stakeholders to improve the current system and curb the “serial litigation” that the court noted in its decision today has plagued our students who “deserve better.”

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The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) has been a strong voice for Texas educators since 1980. It is the leading educators’ association in Texas with more than 100,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, future, retired and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for 5 million public schoolchildren. ATPE is the ally and the voice of Texas public education.