Law Commons^™

A Quarter Century Of Challenges And Progress In Education, And An Agenda For The Next Quarter Century, Albert H. Kauffman

Faculty Articles

As a native Texan who attended intentionally segregated Texas public schools, then an effectively segregated Texas public law school, litigated many cases against discrimination in Texas education, and now teaches Texas education law, I have what I think to be informed opinions on where we have been, where we are going, and what we should do next. I will briefly describe our sad history of discrimination in segregation, school finance, testing, higher education, and lack of responsiveness to newer issues in education at all levels. I will then summarize some of our ongoing challenges and some possible approaches that I …

The Texas Supreme Court Retreats From Protecting Texas Students, Albert H. Kauffman

Faculty Articles

The Texas Supreme Court has now fully retreated from a powerful line of previous Texas Supreme Court decisions protecting the rights of public school students and low-wealth districts.' Returning to Texas history's dual system of poor districts and wealthy districts, the Court removed itself from its constitutional role as a vital ingredient in progressing toward school finance equity and adequacy and has instead regressed to a dual school system in Texas that is divided between poor and wealthy districts.

This regression becomes evident by analyzing seven major school finance decisions: (1) Edgewood Independent School District v. Kirby (Edgewood I); (2) …