North Carolina transitions after Leandro case dismissal

UNSPLASH

In dismissing the 32-year-old Leandro case, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the General Assembly is solely responsible for financing public school education.

North Carolina’s Supreme Court dismissal of the Leandro case leaves state lawmakers as the lone authority on education funding.

The April 2 ruling, which affirmed the General Assembly with ultimate jurisdiction over school appropriation, overturned by 4-3 vote a 2017 ruling requiring lawmakers to fund public schools according to a court-approved remedial plan. As a result, all subsequent Leandro rulings were declared invalid. 

The original Leandro lawsuit, filed by five low-wealth public school districts in 1994, argued the state has a constitutional duty to give all students adequate resources. 

Republican lawmakers applauded the decision as a win for constitutional fidelity by withdrawing the court as an arbiter of fiscal responsibility.

“For decades, liberal education special interests have improperly tried to hijack North Carolina's constitutional funding process in order to impose their policy preferences via judicial fiat,” Senate Pro Tem Phil Berger said. [The] decision confirms that the proper pathway for policymaking is the legislative process. …

“North Carolina's children have access to world-class educational opportunities because of the legislature's commitment to improving educational outcomes. As we prepare for the short session, Senate Republicans will continue our ongoing focus on increasing parental involvement and educational opportunities for students.”

School districts in Cumberland, Hoke, Robeson, and Vance counties joined Halifax County in the original lawsuit. In 1997, the state Supreme Court ruled and reconfirmed in 2004 that every child has a right to a “sound basic education” that includes competent and well-trained teachers and principals and equitable access to resources. The court ordered the state to pay for a $700 school improvement plan in 2022 when Democrats held a 4-3 majority. The court has a 5-2 Republican majority now.  

Justice Anita Earls, one of the dissenters, wrote of the dismissal: “The Court today betrays these constitutional commitments. The majority dismisses North Carolina’s landmark constitutional education rights litigation with prejudice and with no relief for any injured party because no plaintiff formally filed an amended pleading to challenge the current statewide funding system. In other words, the majority concludes that it will not order the State to correct the way it has harmed public school students, even in very low-wealth school districts like Hoke County, and even as two previous Courts concluded that the State is failing to adequately educate students and must act to fix the public education system. In reaching that decision, the majority relies on a hyper-technicality that is not even lawful grounds to dismiss these proceedings and was not argued by any party. Specifically, no party asked this Court to dismiss this case because it was an improper ‘facial’ challenge. The majority’s narrow holding rests on stunning and unsupported assertions.”

Although Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools wasn’t a plaintiff, the state’s second-largest district won’t face immediate impact to operations.

“To see our students continue to excel despite the lack of adequate state resources for their teachers and classrooms makes me so proud as a superintendent,” Superintendent Crystal Hill said in a statement. “Our hardworking teachers and students should not have to overcome this challenge, yet they overcome this state-imposed resource barrier every day.”

Public school advocates contend the General Assembly has failed to properly fund traditional public schools while moving resources to charter schools and expanding tuition scholarships to private schools. North Carolina ranks 49th in the nation in per-pupil investment and 43rd in base teacher pay.

“By not providing funding to support a sound basic education as Leandro requires, North Carolina sends a clear message to our 139,000-plus students and their families, and that message is, ‘Public education students are not the priority,’” CMS board Chair Stephanie Sneed said.

Lauren Fox, interim president and CEO of Public School Forum, contends the ruling will extend inaction to address the needs of low-wealth districts but the constitutional principle of adequate funding hasn’t changed.

“Ensuring adequate funding for North Carolina’s public school students is not a partisan issue – it’s a constitutional one, and the responsibility before us is just as clear as it was before,” she said. “North Carolina law expressly states that it is the General Assembly’s responsibility to provide the resources necessary for every child to have access to a sound basic education. 

“The latest ruling does not change that reality, nor the reality that our state is not meeting that responsibility. We are 50th in the country in per-student funding, to the detriment of our children, communities, and our state’s overall wellbeing.”

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