PLAINTIFFS FIGHT BACK IN SCHOOL FINANCE LAWSUIT

  

Lawyers representing over 600 Texas school districts fought back on a motion to remove the judge in a lawsuit over public school financing.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his team are arguing in an Austin courtroom that, District Court Judge John Dietz is coaching the plaintiffs’ counsel in order to improve their case and cited a series of emails this year among the judge, his staff and plaintiff’s lawyers.

The school districts charge that the $5.4 billion in public school funding budget cuts during the 2011 session of the state legislature violated the state’s constitution that requires the state to provide an efficient and adequate education. Much of the funding was restored in the last session but the districts continue to argue that the cuts cost the districts the opportunity to provide a good education for their students.

Plaintiff’s lawyers responded to the motion to remove Dietz Thursday with a 49-page motion that says state attorneys have failed to prove that the judge had  lost his impartiality.

The counter-motion  said that, under the circumstances, the state would have taken great pains to provide a full and accurate account of the relevant facts, in fairness to the trial judge accused of partiality.

The Brenham school district is not a part of this lawsuit.