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| Monday, February 06 2006 Ski Report / Brides & Grooms / Pet Finder / Meet the Experts / Prep Sports Scores | ||
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How far will courts
go to achieve school funding equity?
Montana and other states around the country are
becoming increasingly familiar with litigation when it comes to
ensuring funding equity in public schools. But is there a potential
danger in having the courts involved in school funding?
Hunter told Missoulian.com that states often compare notes with each other on equity issues, as they should. “The National Council of State Legislators does a lot of work in this area,” said Hunter, “and they encourage interchange among legislators individually. And they do learn from one another.” Despite the proliferation of lawsuits in this country over the past several years, Hunter hasn’t seen any indication - at least so far n that schools will be subjected to more legal action if advocates see it as a more expedient way to get things done and bypass local control in the process. “Typically they (school lawsuits) are fairly large and complicated and expensive suits to bring,” she noted. “Typically the people who do bring them try to go to the legislature first - to usually one or two legislative sessions - before they turn to the courts.” Hunter said local control of schools is important, but across the country some states are much more concerned about it than others. She said lawsuits have not interfered with local control to date. “They’re more telling the state to properly support, in terms of resources, the local districts,” she said. “They’re not telling the state to get into the business of running those districts at all.” She said people need to guard against that potential, however. She also thinks the courts themselves will have a hand in keeping that from happening. “I don’t think the courts would entertain that kind of suit. They would not welcome it,” Hunter said, “because they’re really looking at a constitutional provision and at more the broad picture. So I doubt they would want to micromanage anything in this area.” Hunter did mention one state - without naming it - in which the legislature has been slow to respond and in a resistance mode. In that case she said the court has continued to be involved and has become “more prescriptive” in its orders. But she doesn’t foresee that happening across the country. While she didn’t follow the early developments in Montana’s equity case, Hunter said one of the hopes of plaintiffs is that simply the act of filing suit will spur a legislature into action. That didn’t happen in Montana. Hunter also has seen cases in which the courts have told states how much they must spend to achieve funding equity, but those cases have been rare. “I think that the courts are reluctant to do that and certainly in the first instance they never go there,” Hunter said. “They typically explain that the funding system is unconstitutional and they look to the legislature and the executive branch as well to solve the problem. “It’s only if there is a continued constitutional violation that the courts become more deeply involved.” She said when courts have specified dollar amounts to be spent to achieve equity they haven’t broken it down by school district but rather have designated a broad amount for the entire system. “It’s (designating dollar amounts) not the way we prefer to see these things handled or solved,” Hunter concluded.
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