North Carolina State Supreme Court Taking Next Steps on NC Public Education
In 2021, Governor Roy Cooper proposed a budget that would have allocated $1.7 billion to fund a two-year remedial action plan for North Carolina schools, but the funding fell short. Source: Spectrum
The Leandro case began in 1994, when school districts in the low-income counties of Hoke, Halifax, Robeson, Vance, and Cumberland sued the state on the premise that their students were not receiving the same educational opportunities as students in higher-income counties. By 1997, the state Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs on the basis of the right to a “sound basic education” every child is granted in the North Carolina state constitution, and again in 2004 affirmed that the state’s efforts to provide that basic education was falling short of the bar and therefore violating the rights of children in North Carolina.
By 2020, State Superior Court Judge David Lee, a Democrat who took over the case in 2016, said the state had fallen even further behind in its efforts to provide sound education to low-income students, and in 2021 called upon the state government to better fund the public school system. In 2021, Governor Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, proposed a budget that would have allocated $1.7 billion to fund a two-year remedial action plan for North Carolina schools, but the funding fell short. Since late 2021, Lee has again been pushing for the state to fund the Leandro plan, but the Republican-controlled legislature is reluctant to appropriate money on the basis of a court order, which they consider a constitutional overreach, as the legislature is endowed with the power of the purse, not the judicial system.
However, many who support the Leandro plan, mainly Democrats, argue that the judicial branch is obligated to step in due to the legislature’s failure to remedy the issue over a period of decades, and point out that House Bill 946, which was filed May 11, 2021, would allocate the $1.7 billion for a comprehensive remedial plan, which, among other purposes, would award raises to principals and teachers, $190 million to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, and $41 million to the UNC system. The state currently has a budget surplus of $6 billion.
On March 21, 2022, the state Supreme Court issued an order agreeing to judge if Lee’s order to transfer $1.7 billion from the state treasury to fund the Leandro plan should be allowed to proceed. The state Supreme Court currently has a majority-Democrat makeup, with a 4-3 majority. However, Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, replaced Lee with Superior Court Judge Michael L. Robinson, a Republican. Robinson was given thirty days to review the state’s current budget and decide if he should amend Lee’s order. Considering his partisan affiliation, it is likely some sort of amendment will be recommended.