Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett delivered a court opinion May 13 that holds the Texas school finance system as constitutional, validating the oft-criticized "recapture" concept.
“Despite the imperfections of the current school funding regime, it meets minimum constitutional requirements,” Willet said in his opinion.
Recapture, also known as "Robin Hood," is a system through which property-rich districts, such as Austin ISD are required by law to send some of their property tax revenue to the state to be redistributed among districts deemed property-poor.
For years, school districts including Frisco ISD have battled the Texas State Board of Education and the Texas Education Agency over the legality of recapture.
The TEA deferred to the Office of the Governor for comments about the ruling.
In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott said the ruling is a "victory for Texas taxpayers and the Texas Constitution."
"The Supreme Court's decision ends years of wasteful litigation by correctly recognizing that courts do not have the authority to micromanage the state's school finance system," Abbott said.
FISD, which is in the process of developing its
fiscal year 2016-17 budget, may owe the state $1.6 million because of the recapture process, according to a budget presentation at the April board of trustees meeting. For the next fiscal year, the district is projected to owe the state nearly $5 million.
The school district is also holding a public hearing at the end of this month to discuss
increasing the property tax rate by 13 cents.
View the Texas Supreme Court ruling
here.