The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution guaranteed every child the right to a “sound basic education.” Twenty-five years later, the state’s budget didn’t include the additional educational funding.
In 1997, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution guaranteed every child, no matter how wealthy or poor, the right to what it calls a “sound basic education.” The state wasn’t allocating enough money to achieve that goal, the court found, and would need to increase funding accordingly.
Nearly three decades after it began, a legal standoff over adequate funding for education has devolve into what some observers consider a state constitutional crisis. The drama in North Carolina, often referred to in shorthand as the “Leandro case” may be a particularly extreme example, but it still highlights the often grim state of how public education is financed in America.
Addressing those issues is “not going to solve the problem, and it’s going to continue to distract us from what needs to be done, which is to hold legislatures to account for the deplorable ways these schools are funded. We’ve got to reckon with this as a nation.” But that budget, passed in November, didn’t include the additional educational funding, even as the state held a roughly $9 billion surplus in its general fund. Judge Lee issued his funding order the same month.
“Our position is that the legislature decides how to spend taxpayer dollars,” said Pat Ryan, a spokesman for the Republican leader of the state senate, Phil Berger. Ryan told MarketWatch that the WestEd report is “a lobbying advocacy document. We never spoke to WestEd nor did they seek our input at all.”
Controlling the purse In a November op-ed in the Charlotte Observer, Robb Leandro, one of the original plaintiffs in the dispute, wrote that “our case was never about politics. Neither party is wholly blameless or at fault, and when in power neither party has fixed the problem.” Leandro is now a partner at Parker Poe.
“There’s a concept of ‘adequacy’ which means that in addition to the fact that kids in poor districts don’t do well, in a state like Kentucky the court determines no one is getting enough,” Rebell said in an interview.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
12-year-old dies after being found unresponsive on school bus, officials sayCounty prosecutor's office and local police were investigating the death, a spokesman said Friday.
Read more »
Sienna Miller, 40, steps out with 25-year-old actor after Cara Delevingne kissThe actress and rising actor-model Oli Green hit up the New York Knicks game Wednesday, just five days after she was spotted making out with Delevingne.
Read more »
Gregory McMichael withdraws plea in federal hate crimes trial after judge blocks agreementThe trial for Gregory McMichael, who has already been convicted of killing the 25-year-old Black man in 2020, is scheduled to begin on Monday.
Read more »
A global flashpoint, but all quiet on eastern Ukraine's frozen front linesConflict is nothing new to troops in Ukraine, and there's little sign of panic over Russia's possible invasion. 'We know they have a bigger army, but we are well prepared,” one of the soldiers says. 'We’ve been preparing for this war for 8 years.'
Read more »
Critics Say GOP Bill in Alabama Would 'Decapitate Public Education''We've given you a check, and we hereby wash our hands of the whole education thing,' is how one retired teacher summarized a GOP lawmaker's fast-moving proposal.
Read more »
20-year-old driver charged in death of cyclist, officials sayThe 62-year-old was flown to a hospital with a fractured skull, where she died later that day.
Read more »