MORATH v. TAXPAYER & STUDENT FAIRNESS COAL.

No. 14-0776.

490 S.W.3d 826 (2016)

Mike MORATH, Commissioner of Education, in his official capacity; Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, in his official capacity; The Texas State Board of Education; and the Texas Education Agency, Appellants, v. THE TEXAS TAXPAYER AND STUDENT FAIRNESS COALITION, et al.; Calhoun County ISD, et al.; Edgewood ISD, et al.; Fort Bend ISD, et al.; Texas Charter School Association, et al.; and Joyce Coleman, et al., Appellees.

Supreme Court of Texas.

OPINION DELIVERED May 13, 2016.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Nichole Beth Bunker-Henderson , Assistant Attorney, Daniel T. Hodge , First Asst. Attorney General, Jonathan F. Mitchell , Solicitor General, Beth Ellen Klusmann , Assistant Solicitor General, Kristofer S. Monson , Assistant Solicitor General, Rance L. Craft , Evan S. Greene , Shelley Nieto Dahlberg , Office of the Attorney General, Greg W. Abbott , Attorney General of Texas, Austin TX, for Appellants.

Mark Ryan Trachtenberg , Haynes and Boone LLP, John David Thompson III , Philip D. Fraissinet , Thompson & Horton LLP, James Christopher Diamond , The Diamond Law Firm, P.C., Houston TX, Richard E. Gray III , Richard Gray IV , Toni Hunter, Gray & Becker PC, Craig T. Enoch , Melissa Prentice Lorber , Shelby Leigh O'Brien , Enoch Kever PLLC, Holly McIntush , Thompson & Horton LLP, Rachel Anne Ekery , Wallace B. Jefferson , Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend LLP, Denise Pierce , Texas Charter Schools Association, Leonard J. Schwartz , Schulman, Lopez & Hoffer, LLP, Doug W. Ray , Randall Buck Wood , Ray & Wood LLP, Austin TX, David G. Hinojosa , Celina Moreno , Marisa Bono , Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund, Robert Allen Schulman , Joseph E. Hoffer , Schulman, Lopez, Hoffer & Adelstein, LLP, San Antonio TX, John William Turner , Haynes and Boone LLP, James C. Ho , Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Dallas TX, Roger L. Ricem , META, Inc., Somerville MA, for Appellees.

Adam Warren Aston , Office of the Governor, Roger B. Borgelt , Borgelt Law, Brian W. Bishop , Attorney at Law, Robert Earl Henneke , Texas Public Policy Foundation, Charles R. 'Skip' Watson , Mike A. Hatchell , Robert Bruce Laboon , Susan A. Kidwell , Locke Lord LLP, Austin, TX, Alexander S. Elson , Lynn B. Bayard , Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, Jodi Bender , Duffee + Eitzen , Adam H. Charnes , Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Dallas, TX, Clint Bolick , Goldwater Institute, Phoenix, AR, Kristi Hassett , Flower Mount, TX, Ronald Johnson , C.Ph.D., Zephyr, TX, Albert Kauffman , St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio, TX, Michael Q. McShane PhD, Director of Education Policy, Kansas City, MO, Eric N. Green , Cal-Tex Protective Coatings, Schertz, TX, David M. Russell , Templeton Smithee Hayes Heinrich & Russell LLP, Amarillo, TX, Zaakir Tameez , Houston, TX, Warren V. Norred , Norred Law, PLLC, Arlington, TX, Briscoe Cain III , The Cain Law Firm, Deer Park, TX, David Upham , University of Dallas, Politics Dep't, Irving, TX, Andrew B. Piel , Harrison Steck, P.C., Fort Worth, TX, for Amici Curiae.


For the seventh time since the late-1980s, we are called upon to assess the constitutionality of the Texas school finance system, a recondite scheme for which the word "Byzantine" seems generous.

In this round, more than half of the State's 1,000-plus school districts have brought the most...

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