Background

The Robin Hood system of school finance was created in the early 1990s after the Texas Supreme Court found that the system for funding schools left large disparities in funding between school districts. School districts with higher property values were able to raise more revenue than those districts with lower property values.

As a result of these court cases, the Robin Hood system was created to equlaize the system by requiring wealthier school districts to redistribute their excess funds to the rest of the system.

Over the last fifteen years, the state's share of the finance system has dropped to nearly 35%, resulting in higher school property taxes at a local level. Many school districts are taxing at or near the cap of $1.50 (per $100 of property valuation) and thus are unable to access additional funds to match increasing costs. As a result, school districts challenged the school finance system in state court, leading to the Texas Supreme Court ruling the system unconsitutional.

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