The State Board of Education vote last Friday to pull up to $100 million from the Texas Permanent School Fund and use it to purchase or build facilities for charter schools should raise alarm among all who worry about unchecked expansion of government and the funding of privately managed schools that don’t have to abide by numerous state regulations.

If that’s not enough, the slipshod way the board vote was taken raises more concerns about its already battered integrity. The initial tie vote Thursday effectively shelved the topic. Then another vote was taken the next day when one of the board members opposed to the idea had stepped away.

The 7-6 vote is contingent on the Texas attorney general’s opinion of board authority to exercise such powers. We’d suggest he check the Texas Constitution while studying this case since that appears to have been ignored.

We understand all those who favor charter schools. Some of the 460 in Texas are fine institutions, such as Waco’s 12-year-old Rapoport Academy Public School, which has done an absolutely exceptional job.

But while charter schools receive state funds per pupil served — about $6,500 each — they don’t receive state funding for construction or leasing of campus facilities. Strong reasons for this exist, including the fact these schools are privately managed and do not have to meet many restrictions and regulations tightly governing entities such as the Waco Independent School District. The latter must assume challenges that charter schools can ignore, such as maintaining certain classroom sizes.

Longtime board member Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, tells us this is one area where liberals and fiscal conservatives such as Republican colleague Bob Craig, of Lubbock, agree. Besides the inherent riskiness of some charter schools, which she suggests are broadly unproven yet (with notable exceptions), she worries about the poor example of “putting this money out there for charter schools at a time when our school districts, especially the small ones, are hurting because there’s not enough money.”

David Dunn, executive director of the Texas Charter Schools Association, said the charter school movement begun 15 years ago is also hurting because the state doesn’t help fund facilities. But critics cite the 71 schools that have seen their charters revoked or removed. They voice fears about investing state funds in this still fledgling movement.

Critics also say the Texas Constitution limits the Permanent School Fund to expenses for textbooks and other instructional materials — not buildings. Berlanga tells the Trib that the state board in latter times has counted computers and laptops as textbooks, “but this could be the first time a charter school was interpreted as a textbook.”

Our take: The investment of millions in facilities for charter schools is a mighty sea change in terms of policy — and at a time when public dollars are tight, an $18 million shortfall looms in the state budget and no one wants to even talk about tax hikes. The Texas Legislature needs to weigh in on this topic prudently before committing itself to any new expense, especially considering that this one comes from a body whose reputation and actions of late have not exactly commanded great respect.