Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HJR119 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Craddick H.J.R. No. 119
2	2
3	3
4	4	A JOINT RESOLUTION
5	5	proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the support and
6	6	maintenance and an efficient system of public schools.
7	7	BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
8	8	SECTION 1. Section 1, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
9	9	amended to read as follows:
10	10	Sec. 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to
11	11	the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall
12	12	be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make
13	13	suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient
14	14	system of public free schools so that every school district will
15	15	have substantially equal access to similar revenues per student at
16	16	similar levels of tax effort. A statute enacted by the Legislature
17	17	to provide for an efficient system or to provide for its support and
18	18	maintenance is presumed to meet the requirements of this
19	19	constitution if the statute rationally furthers a legitimate State
20	20	purpose or interest such as efficiency or local control.
21	21	SECTION 2. Section 3, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
22	22	amended to read as follows:
23	23	Sec. 3. (a) One-fourth of the revenue derived from the
24	24	State occupation taxes [and poll tax of one dollar on every
25	25	inhabitant of the State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty
26	26	years,] shall be set apart annually for the benefit of the public
27	27	free schools; [and in addition thereto, there shall be levied and
28	28	collected an annual ad valorem State tax of such an amount not to
29	29	exceed thirty-
30	30	five cents on the one hundred ($100.00) dollars
31	31	valuation, as with the available school fund arising from all other
32	32	sources, will be sufficient to maintain and support the public
33	33	schools of this State for a period of not less than six months in
34	34	each year,] and it shall be the duty of the State Board of Education
35	35	to set aside a sufficient amount [out] of revenue [the said tax] to
36	36	provide free text books for the use of children attending the public
37	37	free schools of this State. The Legislature may make
38	38	appropriations[; provided, however, that should the limit of
39	39	taxation herein named be insufficient the deficit may be met by
40	40	appropriation] from the general funds of the State for the support
41	41	of the public free schools, and a statute enacted by the Legislature
42	42	setting the amount of those appropriations or the method by which
43	43	they are distributed is presumed to meet the requirements of this
44	44	constitution if the statute rationally furthers a legitimate State
45	45	purpose or interest such as efficiency or local control.
46	46	(b) The [and the] Legislature may also provide for the
47	47	formation of school districts [district] by general laws; and all
48	48	such school districts may embrace parts of two or more counties, and
49	49	the Legislature shall be authorized to pass laws [for the
50	50	assessment and collection of taxes in all said districts and] for
51	51	the management and control of the public school or schools of such
52	52	districts, whether such districts are composed of territory wholly
53	53	within a county or in parts of two or more counties. The[, and the]
54	54	Legislature by general law may authorize each school district to
55	55	impose an [additional] ad valorem local tax [to be levied and
56	56	collected within all school districts heretofore formed or
57	57	hereafter formed,] for the further maintenance of public free
58	58	schools, and for the erection and equipment of school buildings
59	59	therein; provided that a majority of the qualified property
60	60	taxpaying voters of the district voting at an election to be held
61	61	for that purpose, shall vote such tax not to exceed in any one year
62	62	one ($1.00) dollar on the one hundred dollars valuation of the
63	63	property subject to taxation in such district, but the limitation
64	64	upon the amount of school district tax herein authorized shall not
65	65	apply to incorporated cities or towns constituting separate and
66	66	independent school districts, nor to independent or common school
67	67	districts created by general or special law.
68	68	(c) A law authorized by this section providing for the
69	69	imposition of local taxes by school districts is presumed to meet
70	70	the requirements of this constitution if there is any evidence that
71	71	the law rationally furthers a legitimate State purpose or interest.
72	72	SECTION 3. (a) The constitutional amendment proposed by
73	73	this resolution shall be submitted to the voters at an election to
74	74	be held November 5, 2019.
75	75	(b) The constitutional amendment proposed by this
76	76	resolution shall be printed on the ballot as one proposition and in
77	77	a manner to provide for voting for or against the proposition: "The
78	78	constitutional amendment:
79	79	(1) providing for equal educational opportunity;
80	80	(2) providing for local control by all school
81	81	districts of local taxes levied for the support of public schools;
82	82	(3) providing for legislative control of the methods
83	83	by which state funds are distributed to school districts and by
84	84	which school districts are formed; and
85	85	(4) restricting the power of the courts to overturn a
86	86	legislative decision regarding the system of or support for public
87	87	education by adopting federal constitutional law that also
88	88	preserves equal access to the courts."