Schools seek UNC parking fines

A group of public school systems is asking a judge to order the UNC system to turn over $18 million in parking fines collected since 2001, a political newsletter reported today.

Lawyers for the school systems filed a motion in Wake Superior Court on Tuesday asking that UNC put the money to a public school technology fund, according to a report by The Insider, an e-mail newsletter published by The News & Observer.

Superior Court Judge Howard Manning ruled last year that the state owes local schools nearly $750 million. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit charging that state agencies had wrongly held on to civil penalties, including parking tickets, even though the state constitution says such fines should go to the schools. But Manning did not order the legislature to turn over the amount owed, saying to do so would exceed judicial authority and potentially disrupt other state operations.

But in Tuesday's motion, lawyers for the local school systems and the N.C. School Boards Association say that the universities placed the parking fines in an escrow account pending the outcome of the court case, The Insider reported. For that reason, the General Assembly would not need to make an appropriation, the lawyers argue.

A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office said its lawyers had not yet reviewed the motion.