Unfortunately, this provision making a free public education available to the citizens of Texas has been a source of frequent litigation. Many lawsuits have been initiated regarding the proper way to fund the public school structure in the state. Since the 1970’s, Texas courts have seen a string of cases wrestling with a funding mechanism that will appropriately fulfill the Texas Constitution’s requirements for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public schools.

The American Law Reports (ALR) states: “The validity of a state’s public school funding system depends on whether the particular method of financing public education yields a public school system that satisfies the state’s educational duty as set forth in the state constitution. Where a court finds that insufficient funding results in a state’s failure to meet its constitutional duty, the court will order the state to restructure its state public school funding system.”14

Texas courts have played an integral role in shaping the current funding methodology. Although a court cannot “create” an acceptable structure, the courts have established the framework for the Texas Legislature by ruling on the constitutionality of funding schemes.15 Most legal challenges to the method of finance have centered on the determination of what constitutes an “efficient” public school system.