Current:Home > StocksGoing on 30 years, an education funding dispute returns to the North Carolina Supreme Court-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
Going on 30 years, an education funding dispute returns to the North Carolina Supreme Court
lotradecoin review View Date:2024-12-26 02:14:04
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Longstanding education funding litigation is returning to North Carolina’s highest court hardly a year after a majority of justices — all Democrats — agreed that taxpayer money could be moved to spend on addressing schooling inequities statewide without the express approval of legislators.
What’s apparently changed to permit Thursday’s scheduled oral arguments at the state Supreme Court is its composition. A few days after the court’s milestone 2022 ruling, registered Republicans won back a majority on the seven-member court after success in statewide elections for two seats.
With the partisan shift having taking effect, the five GOP justices agreed last fall to consider additional arguments sought by Republican legislative leaders opposed to the 2022 decision. Those lawmakers contend only the General Assembly can appropriate state funds.
The justices wrote that Thursday’s matter would be narrowed upon whether Superior Court Judge James Ammons, the latest to oversee the litigation originating almost 30 years ago, had authority last spring to enter an order declaring the state owed $678 million to fulfill two years of an eight-year plan.
But legal briefs filed for Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore essentially seek to overturn the November 2022 decision by the then-Democratic controlled court. Action by Ammons’ predcessor, the late Judge David Lee, who approved the initial $5.4 billion plan and ordered some taxpayer funds be moved, served as the focus of the 2022 ruling.
The legislators’ attorneys say there’s never been a legal determination that school districts beyond rural Hoke and Halifax counties had failed to live up to requirements affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1997 and 2004 that the state constitution directs all children must receive the “opportunity to receive a sound basic education.” And, the lawyers argue, school funding decisions are political questions that judicial branch must avoid.
A host of other legal parties, including several school districts, say Ammons’ statewide order must be upheld and implemented. They say it’s the judiciary’s job to fix statewide constitutional deficiencies in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade instruction that the executive and legislative branches failed to address.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is not a legal party in the case but supports carrying out the plan that his administration helped create.
The attorneys supporting the plan — which in part includes funding to improve teacher recruitment and salaries, expand pre-K and help students with disabilities — argue that Moore and Berger are trying to relitigate the 2022 decision, but it’s well past time procedurally to rehear the matter.
The justices were unlikely to rule from the bench at the close of oral arguments. The court’s next opinion date is March 22. The new Republican majority has ruled favorably for GOP legislators by striking down previous redistricting decisions and upholding a photo voter identification mandate.
Education and civil rights advocates scheduled a rally outside the Supreme Court building while the case was heard.
The litigation began in 1994, when several school districts and families of children sued and accused the state of state law and constitutional violations. The matter often has been referred to as “Leandro” — for the last name of one of the students who sued.
In requests repeating from the 2022 case, lawyers for the school districts asked that Associate Justice Phil Berger Jr. — son of the Senate leader — recuse himself from the case, while attorneys for the elder Berger and Moore asked that Associate Justice Anita Earls not participate. This year’s recusal motions were denied, as they were in 2022, and Earls, a registered Democrat, and the younger Berger, a Republican, both were expected to participate Thursday.
veryGood! (346)
Related
- Charlie Sheen’s Daughter Sami Sheen Undergoes Plastic Surgery for Droopy Nose
- Sandra Day O'Connor showed sense of humor during interaction with ex-Commanders RB
- UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico, reaches 5 million visitors
- Endless shrimp and other indicators
- Get 10 free boneless wings with your order at Buffalo Wild Wings: How to get the deal
- Virginia Environmental Groups Form New Data Center Reform Coalition, Call for More Industry Oversight
- Why NFL Analyst Tony Gonzalez Is Thanking Taylor Swift
- Michigan regulators approve $500M pipeline tunnel project under channel linking 2 Great Lakes
- Sofía Vergara Responds After Joe Manganiello Says Her Reason for Divorce Is “Not True”
- India-US ties could face their biggest test in years after a foiled assassination attempt on a Sikh
Ranking
- Proposal to allow local police to make arrests near Arizona border with Mexico will appear on ballot
- Israeli military speaks to Bibas family after Hamas claims mom, 2 kids killed in strikes
- Mexico’s minimum wage will rise by 20% next year, to about $14.25 per day
- NASA Artemis moon landing in 2025 unlikely as challenges mount, GAO report says
- Alabama lawyer accused of sexually assaulting handcuffed inmate, lawsuit says
- Ford says new UAW contract will add $8.8B to labor costs
- Horoscopes Today, December 1, 2023
- Dead longhorn found on Oklahoma State fraternity lawn the day before championship game with Texas
Recommendation
-
Oklahoma city approves $7M settlement for man wrongfully imprisoned for decades
-
Dr. Phil Alum Bhad Bhabie Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby
-
Red Lobster's cheap endless shrimp offer chewed into its profits
-
US joins in other nations in swearing off coal power to clean the climate
-
'Truffles is just like me:' How a Pennsylvania cat makes kids feel proud to wear glasses
-
Blinken sees goals largely unfulfilled in Mideast trip, even as Israel pledges to protect civilians
-
A 5.5 magnitude earthquake jolts Bangladesh
-
Dez Bryant came for ESPN’s Malika Andrews over Josh Giddey coverage. He missed the mark.