Texas Supreme Court hears challenge to South Texas ISDtaxes over standing

The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in Busey v. South Texas Independent School District (No. 240782), a suit in which 16 Willacy County taxpayers ask judges to block collection of a 5¢ per $100 ad valorem tax they contend was authorized only for a 1974 rehabilitation district and not for the general functions the district currently performs.

Petitioner counsel Heather Leon told the court, “This appeal concerns the standing of individual taxpayers in the Texas Public School District to raise constitutional challenges to a tax that was never authorized by the voters.” Leon said the 1974 election authorized a limited rehabilitation tax and that South Texas ISD now operates “almost as a magnet school for gifted and talented students,” with a special‑education enrollment she described as under 3–4 percent compared with typical Texas districts of 10–11 percent.

Leon also emphasized the financing disparity cited in…