Texas Appeals Court Upholds Comptroller’s Property Valuation for School Funding

The Texas Court of Appeals, Fifteenth District, Austin, affirmed the trial court’s judgment in favor of the Texas Comptroller regarding property value assessments for school funding purposes. The case arose from a dispute between a school district and the Comptroller over the valuation of native pasture land in Kenedy County, where local officials had approved lower appraisals following landowner protests. The court found that while state law requires the Comptroller to make “appropriate adjustments” for different appraisal levels resulting from local review board decisions, it grants the Comptroller discretion in determining those adjustments. The court ruled that substantial evidence supported ...