A lawsuit ordering Harris County Judge Ed Emmett to include an Early to Rise ballot item on the November ballot was thrown out by a three-member panel of the 14th Court of Appeals. The court released a brief opinion late Sept. 5.

The ballot item would have allowed voters to decide whether property taxes in Harris County should be increased by 1-cent per $100 of valuation to fund early childhood education improvements. The Harris County Board of Education would have collected the tax, and the Harris County School Readiness Corporation—the nonprofit behind the Early to Rise initiative—would have distributed the money.

The Early to Rise campaign sought to take advantage of a rarely used 1935 law that said the initiative could be added to the ballot if organizers received enough petition signatures from Harris County voters. The petition needed at least 78,824 signatures—or 10 percent of the number of registered voters in the last gubernatorial election—to be considered. It ended up garnering roughly 85,000 in Harris County and 150,000 total.

Emmett denied the petition, claiming the organizers were using an arcane law and that the language used on the petition rendered it invalid.

"I have said all along that what the Early To Rise campaign and the School Readiness Corporation were doing was bizarre," Emmett said in a Sept. 6 statement. "After a great deal of research and consultation, I determined that the arcane law they tried to use did not allow them to increase taxes in the manner they proposed. I am gratified that the judges of the 14th Court of Appeals agreed."

The Early to Rise campaign received the support from superintendents at major Harris County school districts—including those at Cy-Fair, Houston, Aldine and Humble ISDs—as well as Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia. A statement from the Early to Rise campaign said organizers respectfully accept the opinion of the court, but remain determined in supporting early childhood education in Harris County.

"This effort to improve early childhood education enjoyed the support of our civic, business, educational, and religious leadership, as well as more than 150,000 area residents who signed the petition to place this item on the November ballot," the release said. "It is their determination that gives us a sense of hope, and we are renewed in our commitment to see improved early childhood education in Harris County."