Dive Brief:
- A lawsuit filed against Tennessee's Basic Education Program's school funding formula is seeking class action status so it would represent all districts in the state.
- The lawsuit was originally filed on behalf of Hamilton County Schools and six neighboring districts, and it claims that the state fails to meet the Tennessee Constitution's promise of providing adequate public education to children. Specifically, it focuses on a lack of funding for key necessities like teacher pay and health insurance.
- Lawyers for the state say the suit does not belong in court and that these are issues that need to be taken up with the General Assembly.
Dive Insight:
As this case moves forward, a district in Tennessee's Shelby County has also decided to pursue an investigation into possible failures of the BEP, indicating that class action status for the original case may be welcome.
That said, as we've seen in similar cases like this, judges typically do not like to weigh in on these funding issues and will likely side with the state's lawyers, who believe this is a legislative issue, or say that it's up to districts.
In November 2014, judges in the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a similar lawsuit that alleged the state's Highland Park School District was in violation of the Michigan Constitution by failing to provide an adequate education for its students. In a 2-1 opinion, the judges wrote that the issue was not one for the courts, but rather a problem that needed to be resolved between individual students and their local school district. And in April, a Pennsylvania court dismissed a complaint filed by a number of grassroots organizations and parents, who alleged that the state's school funding formula was unfair and has led to resource discrepancies within many schools. In that case, Judge Dan Pellegrini, who wrote the opinion, said questions about the state's funding of schools were issues the state legislature must decide on and are outside of the court's purview.