Judge said NC needs to improve schools. The price tag could be $427 million this year.
State leaders say they need North Carolina lawmakers to provide an additional $427 million this year to help give every student their state constitutional right to a sound basic education.
The State Board of Education and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s Administration filed a joint plan this week for carrying out Superior Court Judge David Lee’s order in the long-running Leandro school funding case to improve the state’s education system.
The plan calls for $427 million in new state education funding this year as the first phase of an eight-year plan. Most of the new money this year would go toward providing raises for teachers, increasing funding for at-risk students and expanding early childhood education programs.
The question, though, is whether the General Assembly will come up with the additional money at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a potential budget hole of more than $4 billion.
“Legislature, we’re calling on you to make the decisions to put the money there and to fund these programs,” Mark Dorosin, an attorney representing the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP in the Leandro lawsuit, said at a news conference Wednesday.
“We know that this is a challenging moment in the state because of the pandemic. But we also know that the pandemic does not relieve the state of its more than 25-year-long obligation to provide the constitutionally required sound basic education to all children.”
But Senate leader Phil Berger warned at a news conference in May that “we cannot spend money that we don’t have” to carry out the court order.
The Leandro case
The Leandro school funding case began in 1994 when school districts in five counties — Hoke, Halifax, Robeson, Vance and Cumberland — took the state to court. Leandro is the family that was originally the lead plaintiff when the lawsuit was filed.
In 1997, the state Supreme Court declared that the state constitution guarantees every child “an opportunity to receive a sound basic education.” Then in 2004, the state Supreme Court held that the state’s efforts to provide a sound basic education to poor children were inadequate.
In his January court order, Lee said the state is further behind than it was in the 1990s in terms of providing students with a sound basic education. He backed a consultant’s report that found the state isn’t providing enough funding for education.
Lee ordered the state to “work expeditiously and without delay to take all necessary actions.”
The majority of this year’s proposed new funding, $235 million, would go toward providing a 5% average raise to teachers and instructional support staff. It’s part of the goal of enabling low-wealth school districts to attract and retain qualified and well-prepared teachers.
Teachers didn’t get a raise last year after the Republican-led General Assembly proposed a 3.9% average raise that was vetoed by Cooper. Democrats argued the raise was insufficient.
GOP lawmakers have passed legislation giving a $350 bonus for teachers in lieu of raises, citing this year’s economic challenges.
The state plan also calls for spending an additional $144.9 million this year to change the state funding system. This includes eliminating the state cap on funding for students with disabilities and increasing the disadvantaged students supplemental fund.
The plan also calls for spending $35.6 million more on early education programs such as the NC Pre-K and Smart Start programs.
Lawmakers asked to provide more money
Both state House Democrats and a new education coalition held news conferences this week to call on the state to carry out the Leandro order. They also backed a pair of Democratic education bills stuck in committee, House Bill 1129 and House Bill 1130.
“The biggest problem facing our community’s schools is the lack of resources and support from the state,” Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Wake County Democrat, said in a news conference Tuesday. “We must fund public education to ensure every child gets the instruction and attention that they need to be fully prepared for success in life.”
Letha Muhammad, director of the Raleigh-based Education Justice Alliance, said Wednesday that the state is at a moment of reckoning. She was speaking at an event sponsored by a new education coalition called Communities for the Education of Every Child NC.
“We can go down the same road that we’ve been on that’s led us to this moment that allows for disinvestment in communities of color or we can take a new path,” Muhammad said. “We’re calling our General Assembly to a new path, down a new road that will fully fund public education.”
Lauren Horsch, a spokeswoman for Sen. Berger’s office, said they’re reviewing the new court filing and will provide additional analysis and comment in the coming days.
“The Republicans in the General Assembly learned about this decision via a press conference hosted by the Democratic Party, making this look more like a political effort than a serious policy proposal,” Horsch said in an email Tuesday.
“It should be noted that the continuing economic shutdown ordered by Governor Cooper has significantly reduced projected revenues to the state. During the last recession, Democrats laid off teachers and cut their salaries. Today that is not happening, as Republicans are working to protect teacher salaries and education funding.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Judge said NC needs to improve schools. The price tag could be $427 million this year.."
