There’s a great detail in the lore of Texas politics about workers who were digging on the north side of the state Capitol building for what would become the Capitol Extension — an underground labyrinth of office and meeting space aimed at expanding the crowded building.

One summer day during the project, all construction work was halted so that the adjacent chambers of the Texas Supreme Court could hear without distraction oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s school funding system.

That moment can serve as a metaphor for what could happen again — all work coming to a halt — as Texas lawmakers prepare for a new legislative session in January.

Big challenges

The biggest challenge that lawmakers must confront is an estimated $18 billion budget shortfall.

Then there’s the always-contentious issue of legislative redistricting.

But a recent declaration by State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, could end up dominating much of the legislative action until a new solution for funding our public schools is forged.

Just a few weeks ago, Shapiro, the powerful head of the Senate education committee, declared that the existing school funding system is hopelessly broken and the state needs to scrap the entire system and come up with a new one that’s more fair to all.

Shapiro’s sentiment should serve as a powerful warning to all Texans.

Once again, our schools are being threatened financially and politically. Once again, homeowners could be threatened by higher property tax. Once again, the idea of increasing the state’s sales tax is being bandied about as a possible solution for this crisis.

We need action

But the greatest threat could be simple inaction because of the multitude of other problems that will confront lawmakers when they return to Austin.

That is why we endorse at least exploring an idea raised by Houstonian Charles Miller, a financial expert and a former head of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. He advocates the formation of an independent public policy center that specializes in educational issues.

This group could provide lawmakers and other educational leaders across the state solid recommendations based more on educational efficiencies and less on politics.

Debate over how the state should fulfill its constitutional obligation to educate the children of our state has been ongoing since 1949, accompanied by countless lawsuits.

Given our fiscal challenges, an independent center might at least give us a new direction to a very old problem.