And the wait continues......The Texas Supreme Court's weekly orders have been posted, and there is no decision on the West Orange-Cove (school finance) lawsuit.
The Quorum Report reported the following yesterday:
In any case, people who think they know how the Supremes will rule say the following:
- The Court will concur with Judge John Dietz that the absence of discretion in setting tax rates combined with most school districts at the $1.50 cap adds up to a de facto statewide property tax which is unconstitutional and must be addressed by the Legislature
- The Court will find for the State on Dietz's ruling that inequities in facilities is unconstitutional.
- The Court will remand the issue of "adequacy and suitability" back to Judge Dietz for further fact-finding.
A new deadline of September, 2006 will be set for the Legislature to resolve issues. Under this scenario, only the dealing with the statewide property tax issue would be ripe for legislative action. The thornier adequacy and suitability issues would be punted until Dietz would conduct the new fact-finding hearings.
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