For more than three decades, public school advocates have hoped that the Leandro case would produce a clear path to adequate and equitable funding for public schools. But with the North Carolina Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling to dismiss the case, North Carolinians are left to wonder what’s next for our public schools.
According to Ann McCall, state constitutional scholar, “This death to one lawsuit may lead to the birth of other lawsuits. Possibly many.” Although the April 2 Leandro V ruling dismissed the case based on procedural grounds dating back to 2017 and declared all future decisions null and void, it did not nullify the many rulings dating back to 1994.
Many of the rulings before 2017 affirmed the critical role of courts in safeguarding the rights of North Carolinians under the state constitution as well as the courts’ authority to require other branches of government to remedy problems.
For example, in Leandro II (2004), the NC Supreme Court stated that the courts of this state are “empowered to provide relief by imposing a specific remedy and instructing the recalcitrant state actors to implement it.”
The ruling in Leandro II also stated that, “[W]hen the State fails to live up to its constitutional duties, a court is empowered to order the deficiency remedied.”
To highlight this point, instead of signing on to the majority opinion, Justice Berger (son of Senator Phil Berger) wrote a concurring opinion to express frustration that the majority opinion did not reject the reasoning of Hoke III (the 2022 Leandro decision). The Hoke III decision explicitly affirmed the role of the Court in safeguarding fundamental constitutional rights.
By not refuting the Court’s constitutional obligation to safeguard our rights, and by dismissing the case on a narrow technicality regarding the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction, the NC Supreme Court left the door wide open for future lawsuits.
In commenting on the April 2 ruling, former NC Supreme Court Justice Burley Mitchell (who wrote the 1997 Leandro opinion) wrote that, “Both the majority and the dissenters agreed that the constitutional right to the opportunity for a sound basic education announced and defined in the 1997 Leandro opinion of the Supreme Court is still binding precedent.
“The court’s April 2 decision also made it clear that the right can still be enforced in a proper case brought by affected plaintiffs against all necessary defendants. The court suggested the case could be brought as a class action on behalf of all the state’s children, not only those of a few counties. I think that is correct and that such an action not only could but should be brought by supporters of our public schools. If such a class action is brought, I suggest it not be designated a “school funding case” but instead be brought as an “educational adequacy case.”
In his majority opinion, Chief Justice Newby, pointed to the 2004 NC Supreme Court ruling that lamented the tax dollars already spent, “It surmised that by that point, just ten years after the case was commenced, this litigation had “cost the taxpayers of this state an incalculable sum of money. This Court remarked, “[O]ne can only wonder how many additional teachers, books, classrooms, and programs could have been provided by that money in furtherance of the requirement to provide the school children of North Carolina with the opportunity for a sound basic education.” Justice Newby writes that, “If this were true ten years into the litigation, how much more so is it true now, twenty-two years later?
But instead of ensuring that lawmakers use tax dollars on education instead of litigation, Justice Newby and the court majority have simply kicked the can down the road. Evidence mounts that the state continues to be woefully negligent in providing sufficient funds to ensure a sound basic education for every student.
So what now? The quick fix to the problem is in the hands of lawmakers. The legislative short session begins on April 21 and our elected officials can decide to finally do right by our public schools and fund them.
Contact your lawmakers and urge them to pass a budget that will reverse years of neglect and move North Carolina out of last place in the nation in education funding effort.
If lawmakers don’t act, the state will end up spending millions more in legal fees defending the legislature’s clear constitutional violations (see last week’s newsletter).
Before you vote in the November election, seek out information on every candidate (local, state, and federal). Cast your ballot for those who commit to following the constitution and funding our public schools well. The Leandro ruling also highlights the importance of judicial elections.