AUSTIN – For the first time in 15 years, the stars seem aligned for advocates of closing some of Texas' state schools for the disabled. The only thing missing is a lawsuit.

A threatening Department of Justice letter details civil rights violations across the state's dozen institutions, which care for the mentally disabled and some with physical disabilities. A report from Texas budget officials recommends downsizing the system. And a popular moderate legislator vows to carry their politically sensitive bill.

But the last time Texas shuttered state schools – two of them, in the mid-1990s – it took a class-action lawsuit over conditions inside the institutions.

In the last three decades, Texas lawmakers have rarely overhauled any broken systems without enduring costly legal action – on abusive prisons, underfunded school districts or inadequate children's health care.

"People have asked me over the years what it's going to take to close more state schools. I always told them, 'A lawsuit,' " said Linda Parrish, who, in 1991, served on the committee that finally settled the 1974 state schools lawsuit by closing two of them. "But this time, things are different. I think lawmakers are starting to see that there's no other choice."

Would community be safer?

Advocates for closing state schools say people with disabilities are safer and better served in the community, where they can receive personalized medical attention, be closer to their families and live independently.

Many people with relatives inside the state schools flatly disagree, saying the facilities provide the around-the-clock care and structure that Texans with profound disorders and complicated diagnoses require.

And they've got strong allies in the Legislature, including influential lawmakers who have state school campuses in their districts, and others who can't imagine re-rocking this boat.

It's an emotionally charged battle that created screaming matches and tears throughout the early 1990s – and much the same could happen when the Legislature reconvenes next month.

"You can't understand what this does to the parents. It was horrible then and it will be horrible now," 75-year-old Nancy Ward said through sobs, describing how she had to move her profoundly disabled daughter out of the Fort Worth State School when it was closed in 1995. Dianne, who is 47 but has the developmental ability of an 18-month-old, is now living at the Denton State School.

"This is our choice, the best thing I've done for my child and my family," Ms. Ward said. "At this age, I shouldn't be having to go through this again."

1970s lawsuit and overhaul

The battle to improve care for Texans with disabilities began in the 1970s, when the family of a man in a Houston-area institution filed suit to improve his living conditions. The civil rights case, overseen by legendary Dallas federal Judge Barefoot Sanders, snowballed with abuse and neglect allegations for 18 years before lawmakers called on Gov. Ann Richards to appoint a committee to settle the suit in the early 1990s.

The subsequent overhaul included closing two facilities – the Fort Worth State School and the Travis State School in Austin – and moving hundreds of residents into community-based care.

"Until that point, we all had thought the state schools were sanctuaries, a refuge for people with disabilities," said Dr. Parrish, now the public policy coordinator for Texas A&M's Center on Disability and Development. "That was not the case. The whole world knew these institutions should be closed, but Texas didn't."

It wasn't the first – or last – time Texas lawmakers were forced into action by litigation.

Lawmakers instituted the "Robin Hood" school finance structure, which requires higher-wealth districts to share tax revenues with lower-wealth districts, after poor school systems filed and won a 1984 lawsuit.

It took decades and more than $1 billion for state officials to resolve a 1970s class-action suit on abusive treatment and overcrowding inside Texas' prison system.

And in the 2007 Legislature, lawmakers finally agreed on a $700 million federal settlement to increase state Medicaid payments to dentists and doctors, resolving a 14-year-old lawsuit to ensure poor children received regular medical and dental checkups.

The Texas Youth Commission's 2007 restructuring, which wasn't predicated by a particular lawsuit, is the only recent exception to the rule – and it followed an embarrassing sexual abuse scandal that made national headlines.

But advocates for closing more state schools and moving residents into independent living think the confluence of recent developments might be better than a lawsuit. In a scathing letter sent to Gov. Rick Perry last week, the U.S. Justice Department said all of Texas' state school residents are in imminent danger of neglect and mistreatment, a violation of their constitutional rights and of federal law.

And a report last month by the Legislative Budget Board, a group of 10 influential lawmakers who keep tabs on the budget, recommended a marked downsizing of the state schools. Budget officials said that the current system is not cost-effective and that closing some facilities in favor of community-based services would save money and better meet residents' needs.

"This is one of those rare windows when what is best for the taxpayer is also best for those who are served," said Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, who chairs the House committee that oversees the state schools and is sponsoring a bill to consolidate some of them. "We can legitimately increase the quality of care, improve the setting of that care, and save Texans money, all with the same policy."

Problems overblown?

But opponents of closing any state schools say the problems have been overblown by the media and advocates for independent living. They say many state school residents have profound disorders, and that there aren't adequate services for them to live safely in their communities. If the advocates really fear conditions inside the state schools, they say, they should instead push to better fund them – so the facilities can hire even more qualified employees.

Despite the Justice Department and budget board reports, said Rep. Susan King, R-Abilene, "I don't think we have definitive information" to justify closing any state schools yet.

"There's a lot of innuendo and opinions, more questions than answers," said Ms. King, who has a state school in her district and served on a House committee that studied Texas' care for the disabled heading into the upcoming legislative session.

Rep. Larry Phillips, the Sherman Republican who chaired that committee, said before lawmakers can even consider closing state schools, they need to make sure there are ample resources to care for people in the community.

"There's not the capacity to do that at this point," he said. "We are going to have to see investments in the state schools. The question is what that investment looks like."