Richard Bocanegra, who is superintendent of the property-poor Edgewood School District, testified Friday that funding adjustments would have to double to cover adequately the costs of educating bilingual and special education students in his district.

He said 96 percent of the students in his district are
economically disadvantaged and 22 percent speak limited English.

Bocanegra said bilingual certified teachers, before-
and-after-school tutorials and additional instructional materials
are needs that the district can't afford.

The testimony came in the third week of the trial of the lawsuit joined by hundreds of Texas school districts, rich and poor, challenging the state’s so-called Robin Hood school finance system.

On Thursday, Ysleta School District Superintendent Hector Montenegro testified that heaters in some El Paso schools are so inadequate that students wear jackets to class and teachers bring space heaters during the winter.

Montenegro testified that on one occasion, so many space heaters were in use at a school in the Ysleta district that a fuse blew, shutting down part of the building.

Montenegro called the conditions at some of the schools a "very
unsatisfactory learning environment."

The judge was shown photos of peeling paint, rusty urinals and
water fountains and ceiling tiles that had fallen.

Several of the science labs in the Ysleta schools do not have
safety measures such as eye wash stations and ventilation hoods
that are required by the state.

On Wednesday, Montenegro testified that about 80 percent of the 47,000 students in his district are classified as economically disadvantaged.

Those students, and others deemed at risk consistently rank
behind the state average in passage of the Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills test.

The Ysleta district receives about $20 million for
compensatory education.

Montenegro said he's confident given the right resources and
circumstances that his district's children can perform with some
of the best students in Texas.

Earlier Wednesday an education finance advocate testified that the Legislature has sacrificed money for poor school districts in an effort to
balance the state budget.

Craig Foster is the founder of the Austin-based Equity Center, which
represents low- and middle-income school districts.

Foster told a judge that there's a very definite pattern over the
past ten years of promises for the poor and privileges for the
rich.

At issue in the trial is the state’s share-the-wealth school finance system, which caps the rates districts can tax property.

The districts contend the cap amounts to an unconstitutional statewide property tax that still denies enough money to educate Texas children equally.

Here are a few key numbers the lawyers will refer to during the trial:

Number of public school districts in Texas: 1,037.
Number of public school students in Texas: 4.3 million
Overall state and local portion Texas education budget: $28 billion
Percent from local property taxes: 62 percent
Percent of districts at the $1.50 property tax rate cap: 48 percent
Number of students educated in those at-the-cap districts: 2.3 million