(The Center Square) – Five county school districts of low wealth in North Carolina have lost the plan for potentially billions of dollars in improvements following Thursday’s vacating of the historic Leandro case by the state Supreme Court.
A 2022 decision by the bench, consisting of different justices, authorized funding. The General Assembly, by state statute, has appropriation authority and legislative leaders and the state’s controller challenged.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court said its job was to resolve whether a trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction in an April 17, 2023, order.
“To do so, we must consider what happens to a case when the original claims have been transformed into claims very different than those in the pleadings,” wrote Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby. “In other words, can a party completely change the subject matter of its action without following the proper procedure for invoking the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction over a new, very different claim? We conclude that the answer is no. Rather, litigants are required to properly invoke the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction over claims they want resolved. If litigants do not do so, the trial court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate the claims.”
Hoke, Halifax, Robeson, Vance and Cumberland counties, along with families and guardians within them, sued the state in 1994 and its Board of Education. Leandro was the name of one of the plaintiffs. In 1997 and 2004, the Supreme Court ruled the state was constitutionally required to ensure all children have access to a sound basic education.
As the case meandered through orders from the bench and appeals, a 2021 agreement was to increase special education funding, teacher pay, counselors, social workers and school nurses. Policy changes were also in the pact. Thursday’s ruling, with prejudice, threw out the 2023 court order to add $677 million in state education spending with potential for billions more ordered by the courts.
Dismissal with prejudice means the complaint cannot be refiled.
“The subject of the original complaints – the education system of the 1990s and early 2000s – no longer existed,” Newby wrote, with direction at then-Attorney General Josh Stein’s July 2017 court filing. “The litigation had instead become a statewide challenge to a ‘future school system,’ exceeding the jurisdiction of the original pleadings. Therefore, the attorney general argued that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to address this question. We agree.”
Newby added that by July 24, 2017, the case had transformed “into one addressing matters never pled.”
“Specifically,” he wrote, “the trial court worked with the remaining parties in this case – while excluding the General Assembly – to enforce a statewide plan that overhauled the legislatively enacted educational system. What began as modest, as-applied challenges to the allocation of educational resources in the named school districts became a full-scale, facial assault on the entire educational system enacted by the General Assembly.”
Republican Judge Richard Dietz sided with Democrats Anita Earls and Allison Riggs in dissent. Newby and Republican Associate Justices Phil Berger Jr., Tamara Barringer and Trey Allen were the majority.
A joint statement from first-term Democratic Public Instruction Superintendent Mo Green and Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis said in part, “While we take the necessary time to review the court’s opinion, one thing remains clear: every measure we have seen over time demonstrates that North Carolina’s public schools have been chronically under-resourced. Ensuring that our children receive the education they deserve is not just a constitutional responsibility; it is a moral and economic imperative for the future of our state.”
Newby also referred to the prophesy within the case.
“Nearly 30 years ago in Leandro,” he wrote of the original 1997 ruling, “this court warned of the dangers that attend litigation concerning the right to an opportunity for a sound basic education, specifically forecasting ‘protracted litigation resulting in unworkable remedies.’ It is difficult to think of a more fitting description of what this case has become.”
WakeEd Partnership, which bills itself as unifier of businesses and supporting all educators and students in Wake County Public Schools, released a statement of disappointment.
“Today’s Leandro decision is disappointing – but not surprising,” said President Keith Poston. “The court ruled on process – not whether students are getting what they need. What hasn’t changed is the need to better support teachers, strengthen schools, and ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed.”
When the case was first filed, lawmaking authority in Raleigh was with the Democratic Party. The late Jim Hunt was governor, and a noted advocate for public education; and the General Assembly had Democratic majorities of 39-11 in the Senate and 78-42 in the House of Representatives.
“Today’s decision rightly recognizes the constitutional role of the North Carolina General Assembly, since the state constitution entrusts the sole appropriations authority to the Legislature,” said Demi Dowdy in a statement representing Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, the speaker of the House of Representatives. “House Republicans remain committed to investing in public education, including through our budget proposal to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000 and provide 8.7% average raises to our public school teachers.”
In the 2022 ruling, Newby, Berger and Barringer were in the minority on the bench, seated with Democratic Associate Justices Earl, Sam Ervin IV, Michael Morgan and Robin Hudson. Allen and Dietz won election in November, flipping majority to 5-2 Republicans.
