Article VII, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution (discussion page)

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This court has long recognized the important role education plays in the maintenance 559*559 of our democratic society. Article VII of the Texas Constitution "discloses a well-considered purpose on the part of those who framed it to bring about the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensive system of public education, consisting of a general public free school system and a system of higher education." Mumme v. Marrs, 120 Tex. 383, 40 S.W.2d 31, 33 (1931). Section 1 of article VII of the Constitution establishes a mandatory duty upon the legislature to make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of public free schools. 40 S.W.2d at 36. The Constitution leaves to the legislature alone the determination of which methods, restrictions, and regulations are necessary and appropriate to carry out this duty, so long as that determination is not so arbitrary as to violate the constitutional rights of Texas' citizens. Id.

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1845: SEC. 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of public schools. SEC. 2. The legislature shall, as early as practicable, establish free schools throughout the State, and shall furnish means for their support by taxation on property; and it shall be the duty of the legislature to set apart no less than one-tenth of the annual revenue of the State derivable from taxation as a perpetual fund, which fund shall be appropriated to the support of free public schools; and no law shall ever be made diverting said fund to any other use; and, until such time as the legislature shall provide for the establishment of such schools in the several districts of the State, the fund thus created shall remain as a charge against the State, passed to the credit of the free common school fund.

1861: SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of this State to make suitable provisions for the support and maintenance of public schools. SEC. 2. The Legislature shall, as early as practicable, establish free schools throughout the State, and shall furnish means for their support, by taxation on property: And it shall be the duty of the Legislature to set apart not less than one-tenth of the annual revenue of the State derivable from taxation, as a perpetual fund, which fund shall be appropriated to the support of free public schools, and no law shall ever be made diverting said fund to any other use; and until such time as the Legislature shall provide for the establishment of such schools in the several Districts of the State, the fund thus created shall remain as a charge against the State, passed to the credit of the free common school fund.

1866: SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of this State to make suitable provisions for the support and maintenance of public schools. SEC. 2. The Legislature shall, as early as practicable, establish a system of free schools throughout the State; and as a basis for the endowment and support of said system, all the funds, lands and other property heretofore set apart and appropriated, or that may hereafter be set apart and appropriated for the support and maintenance of public schools, shall constitute the public school fund; and said fund, and the income derived therefrom, shall be a perpetual fund exclusively for the education of all the white scholastic inhabitants of this State, and no law shall ever be made appropriating said fund to any other use or purpose whatever. And until such time as the Legislature shall provide for the establishment of such system of public schools in the State, the fund thus created and the income derived therefrom, shall remain as a charge against the State, and be passed to the credit of the free common school fund.

1869: SECTION I. It shall be the duty of the Legislature of this State, to make suitable provisions for the support and maintenance of a system of Public Free Schools, for the gratuitous instruction of all the inhabitants of this State, between the ages of six and eighteen years. ... SECTION VI. As a basis for the establishment and endowment of said Public Free Schools, all the funds, lands, and other property heretofore set apart and appropriated, or that may hereafter be set apart and appropriated, for the support and maintenance of Public Schools, shall constitute the Public School Fund. And all sums of money that may come to this State hereafter from the sale of any portion of the public domain of the State of Texas, shall also constitute a part of the Public School Fund. And the Legislature shall set apart, for the benefit of Public Schools, one fourth of the annual revenue derivable from general taxation; and shall also cause to be levied and collected, an annual poll tax of one dollar, on all male persons in this State, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years, for the benefit of Public Schools. And said fund and the income derived therefrom, and the taxes herein provided for school purposes, shall be a perpetual fund, to be applied, as needed, exclusively for the education of all the scholastic inhabitants of this State; and no law shall ever be made appropriating such fund for any other use or purpose whatever. SECTION VII. The Legislature shall, if necessary, in addition to the income derived from the Public School Fund, and from the taxes for school purposes provided for in the foregoing section, provide for the raising of such amount by taxation, in the several School Districts in the State, as will be necessary to provide the necessary school houses in each district, and insure the education of all the scholastic inhabitants of the several Districts.

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Pea v Talbot 39 Tex. 345