Overview
- Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to authorize a 74-page constitutional petition filed in Travis County that names the State of Texas and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants.
- The suit targets the 2019 HB 3 changes that created the commissioner-calculated maximum compressed rate for Tier One taxes and argues that requirement strips local boards of meaningful control over property-tax revenue.
- Midland says the TEA-set 2025–26 MCR of $0.5814 produced about $313 million in Tier One revenue and requires roughly $83 million—about 27%—to be sent to the state this year.
- Attorneys Kevin O’Hanlon and Kara Belew told trustees the district will seek a Rule 11 agreement or deposit the disputed $83 million into the court registry to preserve its ability to recover the money while litigation proceeds.
- If Midland wins, a judge could invalidate parts of the current code but lawmakers would have to craft a replacement payment and rate system; the case revives long-running tensions over recapture’s goal of equalizing school funding and past court rulings that have twice reshaped Texas school finance.