By Culberson H.J.R. No. 10
75R4677 CAS-D
A JOINT RESOLUTION
1-1 proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the support and
1-2 maintenance and an efficient system of public schools.
1-3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 1, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to
1-7 the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it
1-8 shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and
1-9 make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an
1-10 efficient system of public free schools so that every school
1-11 district will have substantially equal access to similar revenues
1-12 per student at similar levels of tax effort. A statute enacted by
1-13 the Legislature to provide for an efficient system or to provide
1-14 for its support and maintenance is presumed to meet the
1-15 requirements of this constitution if the statute rationally
1-16 furthers a legitimate State purpose or interest such as efficiency
1-17 or local control.
1-18 SECTION 2. Section 3, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
1-19 amended to read as follows:
1-20 Sec. 3. (a) One-fourth of the revenue derived from the
1-21 State occupation taxes [and poll tax of one dollar on every
1-22 inhabitant of the State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty
1-23 years,] shall be set apart annually for the benefit of the public
1-24 free schools; [and in addition thereto, there shall be levied and
2-1 collected an annual ad valorem State tax of such an amount not to
2-2 exceed thirty-five cents on the one hundred ($100.00) dollars
2-3 valuation, as with the available school fund arising from all other
2-4 sources, will be sufficient to maintain and support the public
2-5 schools of this State for a period of not less than six months in
2-6 each year,] and it shall be the duty of the State Board of
2-7 Education to set aside a sufficient amount [out] of revenue [the
2-8 said tax] to provide free text books for the use of children
2-9 attending the public free schools of this State. The Legislature
2-10 may make appropriations[; provided, however, that should the limit
2-11 of taxation herein named be insufficient the deficit may be met by
2-12 appropriation] from the general funds of the State for the support
2-13 of the public free schools, and a statute enacted by the
2-14 Legislature setting the amount of those appropriations or the
2-15 method by which they are distributed is presumed to meet the
2-16 requirements of this constitution if the statute rationally
2-17 furthers a legitimate State purpose or interest such as efficiency
2-18 or local control.
2-19 (b) The [and the] Legislature may also provide for the
2-20 formation of school districts [district] by general laws; and all
2-21 such school districts may embrace parts of two or more counties,
2-22 and the Legislature shall be authorized to pass laws [for the
2-23 assessment and collection of taxes in all said districts and] for
2-24 the management and control of the public school or schools of such
2-25 districts, whether such districts are composed of territory wholly
2-26 within a county or in parts of two or more counties. The[, and
2-27 the] Legislature by general law may authorize each school district
3-1 to impose an [additional] ad valorem local tax [to be levied and
3-2 collected within all school districts heretofore formed or
3-3 hereafter formed,] for the further maintenance of public free
3-4 schools, and for the erection and equipment of school buildings
3-5 therein; provided that a majority of the qualified property
3-6 taxpaying voters of the district voting at an election to be held
3-7 for that purpose, shall vote such tax not to exceed in any one year
3-8 one ($1.00) dollar on the one hundred dollars valuation of the
3-9 property subject to taxation in such district, but the limitation
3-10 upon the amount of school district tax herein authorized shall not
3-11 apply to incorporated cities or towns constituting separate and
3-12 independent school districts, nor to independent or common school
3-13 districts created by general or special law.
3-14 (c) A law authorized by this section providing for the
3-15 imposition of local taxes by school districts is presumed to meet
3-16 the requirements of this constitution if there is any evidence that
3-17 the law rationally furthers a legitimate State purpose or interest.
3-18 SECTION 3. (a) The constitutional amendment proposed by
3-19 this resolution shall be submitted to the voters at an election to
3-20 be held November 4, 1997.
3-21 (b) The constitutional amendment proposed by this resolution
3-22 shall be printed on the ballot as one proposition and in a manner
3-23 to permit voting for or against the proposition: "The
3-24 constitutional amendment:
3-25 (1) providing for equal educational opportunity;
3-26 (2) providing for local control by all school
3-27 districts of local taxes levied for the support of public schools;
4-1 (3) providing for legislative control of the methods
4-2 by which state funds are distributed to school districts and by
4-3 which school districts are formed; and
4-4 (4) restricting the power of the courts to overturn a
4-5 legislative decision regarding the system of or support for public
4-6 education by adopting federal constitutional law that also
4-7 preserves equal access to the courts."