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Davis Calls On Abbott To Settle School Finance Lawsuit

Ryan Poppe
/
TPR News
Likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis speaks in front of Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus on the Texas school finance lawsuit.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, is calling on Attorney General Greg Abbott to come to the table and reach a settlement agreement in legal case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s school finance system.

As Travis County District Judge John Deitz weighs hundreds of pieces of evidence in the lawsuit, Davis called on Abbott, who is representing the state in the case and is Davis' likely Republican opponent in the governor's race, to make sure Texas school districts are adequately funded.

"Greg Abbott needs to stop this nonsense," Davis said. "He needs to stop defending the indefensible, he needs to settle this case, it’s time to quit defending and start leading."

Davis said this case is now about school districts across the state having to ask for property tax increases in order to pick up the slack.

"School kids doing with less because the state is failing to meet its obligations, communities doing their part but the state failing to do it’s job," Davis said.

Davis said the state would not need to raid the Rainy Day Fund in order to increase funding for schools and that there was enough money in the state general revenue in order to accomplish that task. She said the state comptroller’s underestimation never warranted the $5.4 billion in cuts seen in 2011.

Davis said a special session regarding this issue is likely needed before the 2015 legislative session, which could be part of the opinion released by Dietz at the end of this month.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.