Dive Summary:

• Texas District Judge John Dietz ruled Monday that Texas' system for funding public schools violates the state constitution by not providing enough money to districts or distributing that money fairly, pointing out funding disparities between wealthy and poor areas.
• Dietz issued a similar ruling eight years ago--making this the second time the state has been ordered to rework its education funding system in less than a decade--but that was overturned by the state Supreme Court, which still ruled that the system was unconstitutional because it violated state guarantees against an income tax.
• Over 600 districts statewide, responsible for 75% of Texas' more than five million public school students, sued this time around, primarily over $5.4 billion in cuts made by the state Legislature in 2011 to schools and education grant programs.

From the article:

The system that Texas uses to fund its public schools violates the state's constitution by not providing enough money to school districts and failing to distribute the money fairly, a judge ruled Feb. 4 in a landmark decision that could force the state Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education. ...