HOUSTON, Texas – Taxpayers filed a lawsuit late Thursday morning against the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the seventh largest in the United States, to stop the politically correct renaming of schools and the unnecessary spending of millions in tax dollars.
The lawsuit is seeking state court action, an injunction, to block HISD from using public funds to rename schools. The lawsuit argues that the vote by the school board on the issue was illegal.
The parties are also seeking to protect the schools as monuments under state law. They take great exception to HISD spending money carving out the names of some historic neighborhood schools from 90-year old school buildings.
“HISD ignored our pleas and their own rules, a horrible lesson for our kids”, says Wayne Dolcefino, spokesman for the plaintiffs.
“It is a sad day when taxpayers and parents have to file a lawsuit to make the school district honor their duty as public servants. HISD will now waste more taxpayer money to defend their arrogance. Shame on them.”
As reported by Breitbart Texas, school district officials have admitted that the cost of changing the name of just one middle school will cost taxpayers almost $500,000.
In its petition, the plaintiffs charge that “HISD is in dire financial straits.” They point to a “desperate” move by board members in December 2015 in “borrowing over $212 million to cover a shortfall in its nearly $2-billion bond program, the largest school bond in Texas history.” The plaintiff taxpayers claim “The shortfall resulted from ballooning construction costs, which an internal audit suggests were caused by HISD’s mismanagement and lack of competitive bidding.”
HISD is a property-wealthy district and as a result, the plaintiffs claim that the amount that the school district must send to the state over the next four years as part of the State’s Robin Hood program, is over a billion dollars.
The Goforth law firm in Houston is representing the plaintiffs.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
This article has been updated.