Judge Sides With SD In Education Lawsuit
The judge in South Dakota’s education funding lawsuit has filed a preliminary decision and she’s sided with the state.
A group of parents and students sued the state, claiming it doesn’t do enough to adequately fund education in South Dakota. After a trial and months of deliberation, Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t prove the education funding system is defective.
Dozens of families and around 70 school districts claimed that the state doesn’t do enough to support education, and the funding formula is flawed.
Some additional details of the decision are noted below:
South Dakota students aren’t guaranteed a quality education, a circuit judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the way the state pays for education does not violate the state constitution.
Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur’s decision follows a trial that saw six superintendents complain that a lack of money was hurting South Dakota’s students. An appeal to the state Supreme Court now is likely, according to the lawyer representing students and their families.
The state’s funding system has room for improvement, Wilbur acknowledged, but she also found that education is not a fundamental right; the state need not prepare students for college or “meaningful employment”; and the testimony of the superintendents was unreliable.
[B-SLAP!] Superintendents testimony unreliable?! That’s gotta hurt! She basically called thgem a bunch of liars.
The judge said students receive adequate educational opportunities even without the “wish lists” various school superintendents presented at trial.
“Whether school districts, if given more money, could provide more programs or resources, or higher teacher pay, or build better facilities, is irrelevant if the constitutional minimum is being provided,” Wilbur wrote.
This following point is something the Chief CAN get behind.
She said that some policy options discussed at trial could improve education, but those decisions are for the legislature, not the judiciary.
If people are not concerned enough about the issues cited by the Superintendents during the trial to carry them to their legislators, then I guess they get the system that they are willing to accept, and pay for, and the students get the leftovers of the public trough. Kind of harsh for the schools, but that’s life in a representative republic.
(Disclosure: the Chief is a public school educator currently at a small school district.)