NC Supreme Court should keep multibillion-dollar education plan, state and schools argue in latest Leandro filings

In a 2022 ruling, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered state executives to fund the plan. But lawmakers, who want the plan struck down, argue that only they have the authority to determine how state funds are spent.

School systems and the state filed arguments this week, saying that the court shouldn’t reconsider the plan because the court has already ruled on it and there’s no need to rehash it.

The lawsuit that prompted the debate has been ongoing for nearly 30 years. That case, Hoke County Board of Education v. State of North Carolina, is known as Leandro for an original plaintiff. It was first filed in 1994 by families and school boards in lower-income counties that alleged the state was not providing an adequate education. The Supreme Court first sided with the plaintiffs in 1997 and 2004, finding the state both responsible for providing a "sound basic education" and that it was not doing so.

Parties in the case agreed to the Leandro Plan in 2021 to resolve the dispute, although lawmakers were not involved in the process.

Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger and state House Speaker Tim Moore have contested the court-ordered plan.

State Controller Nels Roseland filed a petition last year asking the state Supreme Court to issue a ruling that provides more clarity on whether the transfer of funds is legal under North Carolina law. The high court’s previous ruling, under a Democratic majority, indicated that transferring the funds is legal.

Berger and Moore filed arguments, as well, ultimately seeking to have the November 2022 decision overturned entirely because they think the plan is premature.

State lawmakers have asked the state Supreme Court to draw much bigger conclusions while justices deliberate those two issues. They’ve asked justices to overturn the November 2022 state Supreme Court decision entirely. They argue that conclusions drawn by the court in that decision were faulty or insufficient to settle their concerns — namely, that the court’s findings don’t apply to any school systems outside of Hoke County and that only lawmakers can determine how state dollars should be spent.

They argue, “the trial court has effectively removed decision-making over public education — and thus one of the State’s most important functions — from the people and their popularly elected representatives.”

In a brief filed this week, attorneys for the state argue these issues have already been decided.

“This Court rejected these exact arguments in [November 2022]. It should reject them again now, both because they are incorrect and because overturning [the November 2022 decision] would be inconsistent with the rule of law.”