State & Local
Page 2 The Battalion Friday, November 13,1992
School funding amendment
passes Senate, faces House
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN- The Texas Senate
approved a proposed constitu
tional amendment Thursday to re
form school funding, but Speaker
Gib Lewis said there aren't
enough votes to pass it in the
House.
"Dealing with a 150 (House)
members with their own ideas is a
lot different than dealing with 31
(Senate) members and their
ideas," said Lewis, D-Fort Worth.
A two-thirds vote of the Legis
lature is required to put a pro
posed amendment before voters.
Lewis said he expects the full
House to consider the proposal
next week.
Although there are several
school funding ideas proposed in
the House, Lewis said, "Nobody's
got a 100 votes." But he said law
makers still are trying to reach a
consensus.
The proposal approved 29-2 by
the Senate would allow local
property tax money to be redis
tributed statewide from wealthier
to poorer school districts.
The current system, which
transfers funds among districts
within counties, has been ruled
unconstitutional by the Texas
Supreme Court. The court gave
lawmakers until June 1, 1993, to
fix the system.
The proposal also would re
quire that 95 percent of state and
local education money be equi
tably distributed based on school
districts' local property tax rates.
In addition, it would set up a state
bond program to help build class
rooms. Sen. Carl Parker, sponsor
of the proposal, said he's not "just
all proud" of it. But he called it
practical in light of strong opposi
tion to such proposals as a
statewide property tax.
School officials have said state
leaders' reform plan would result
in large property tax increases be
cause it does not anticipate suffi
cient state funding to even ac
count for enrollment growth.
Parker said his measure
wouldn't mandate local tax in
creases, but that school districts
would have to get the money
somewhere to continue current
funding levels. He said he hoped
the proposal would provide in
centive for Texans to "push us to
do what's right, and what's right
in my opinion is for the state to be
the primary source of support for
a state (education) system."
Parker predicted his amend
ment would end up in a confer
ence committee to work out dif
ferences with whatever is passed
by the House.
Revision put forward
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN - A Republican
state lawmaker Thursday said
he again has proposed a consti
tutional amendment that would
give the Legislature and local
school boards — rather than the
courts — the right to decide
what is equity in school fund-
ing.
Rep. John Culberson, joined
by about 20 other House mem
bers at a news conference, said
his amendment is the ideal solu
tion to the continuing school fi
nance crisis. Culberson, R-Hous-
ton, said his plan would lower
taxes and restore local control by
eliminating the county educa
tion districts and exempting
school districts from unfunded
state requirements.
Culberson's plan has been
criticized by Gov. Ann Richards
and other state leaders.Critics
say the idea would mean contin
ued court supervision of the
school finance system without
solving the funding crisis.
Bill Cryer, the governor's
press secretary, said the amend
ment would leave in place the
state's flawed system for school
financing.
Culberson said the amend
ment has the support of about
80 members of the 150-member
House.
fury finds Upjohn negligent
Company ordered to reward family of convicted murderer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS -- A Dallas County jury on Thursday or
dered Upjohn Co. to pay the family of a convicted
murderer up to $2.15 million after ruling the sleeping
pill Halcion helped the man to kill.
But the actual damage award, which still must be
approved by a judge, is likely to be far less since the
jury also blamed the man and his doctor.The jury
reached the decision after nearly two days of deliber
ation in the nation's first civil trial over the drug's al
leged side effects. Similar cases against Upjohn, Hal-
cion's maker, are pending around the country.The
suit was filed by William Freeman, former assistant
police chief of Fort Stockton, Texas, and his family.
They said Halcion altered Freeman's personality and
caused him to kill his friend Donnie Hazelwood in
1987. He is serving a life prison term for the murder.
Attorneys for Freeman and his family asked for
more than $100 million in damages. But jurors
awarded just over $2 million, none of it to Freeman,
who they said was 50 percent responsible for the
crime. The jury said 30 percent of the blame is with
Freeman's, doctor, Aaron Landy, and 20 percent is
with Upjohn. The jury ruled the company was negli
gent but did not act with malice.The division of re
sponsibility left attorneys confused about who pays
how much.
Freeman began taking Halcion in early 1985 when
he was having trouble sleeping after back surgery,
according to testimony in the five-week trial.Free
man's personality gradually changed, relatives testi
fied, and he started experiencing amnesia, psychosis
and paranoia, some of the drug's reported side ef
fects.
STACK GETS WIRED
RANDY NICHOLS/The Battalion
Ryan Passareli, a freshman marine engineering major who lives in Aston Hall, works on tying the
lowest stack of bonfire Thursday afternoon.
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The Battalion
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