Along the lines of William Lutz's report on the GOP ballot initiatives, Republican legislators also are talking about taxpayer protection in the special legislative session to be called in the spring on school finance. The Texas Supreme Court ruling on the school finance case indicates that the Legislature could consider -- as a possible bandaid -- raising the current cap on property taxes at the local district level. One area representative tells dallasblog, however, that rather than remove that current protection, legislators would be more inclined to let voters lift the current $1.50 per $100 valuation cap on the property tax rate. The cap is what caused the Supreme Court to declare the school funding system unconstitutional, since almost 70 percent of the state’s school districts are either at the cap or within a nickel of it.  Such action by legislators would get the tax hike onus off their back and make local taxpayers demand more money for schools...and be willing to pay for it. 

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