Cy-Fair ISD has joined more than 65 school districts as part of the Fort Bend ISD vs. Robert Scott school finance lawsuit, represented by Thompson and Horton, LLP in Houston.

"This is the latest of a series of lawsuits involving our state's school finance system that goes back to the 1980s," David Thompson said. "I expect this case will be the seventh of those cases to reach the Supreme Court. It involves the duty under our state's constitution that imposes some very clear duties on legislation in regard to education."

According to Thompson, the heart of the lawsuit revolves around the fact that the state needs to recognize the cost of its own educational requirements.

"Let's quit pretending high standards don't take resources," he said. "The state has to adequately and equitably provide the resources for districts to meet the state's high standards."

An additional 80,000–90,000 new students are attending Texas school districts every year, but at the same time, legislators cut education funding by an unprecedented $5 billion last year, Thompson said.

"We have never done that in Texas history," he said. "Not during the Great Depression, World War II, or any other economic slow downs we've had over the years."

Districts from all over the state have joined the Fort Bend ISD vs. Robert Scott lawsuit, and combined with the three other school finance lawsuits, 60 percent of Texas districts are challenging the state's finance system.

One issue all districts that have joined the lawsuit have in common is a concern about the state's rising education standards.

"Every one of these districts is looking at their student population and these rising standards we're putting in place, and the central question is, if we are serious about these standards and requirements we are phasing in, we need adequate and equitable resources that relate to our standards," Thompson said. "There has to be a relationship between what we're trying to accomplish and the resources that are used to accomplish that objective."

Additionally, the lawsuit focuses on remembering local property tax is a local tax, not a state tax. Local districts and communities need to have control and discretion over local revenues, Thompson said.

The group hopes to have an initial conference with a trial judge within the next month, and any court-related decisions will be up to the judge. He hopes the issue will be taken to court by this fall.

"The outcome needs to be a system that adequately and equitably funds our high standards," Thompson said. "That's probably going to mean the state putting back into the system most of the money they cut out. At the very least, it will mean restoring the dollars just cut out of public school [last spring]."