Plaintiffs Prevail in Two Important New Decisions

Indiana

Reversing the lower court’s holding that the separation of powers doctrine precludes the courts from considering plaintiffs’ claims that children throughout the state are being denied their constitutional right to a quality education, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on May 2, 2008 that these issues are justiciable. Bonner v. Daniels. Noting that “the current cause is part of an orchestrated suit, already filed and decided in several states,” the Court relied on and quoted extensively from judicial decisions from sister states.

The appeals’ court’s decision denies defendants’ motion to dismiss and sends the case back to the lower court for a trial on the merits of the claim. The ruling is highly significant in light of the fact that virtually every court that has explicitly or implicitly ruled that a claim based on educational adequacy is justiciable has, after hearing the evidence, ruled in plaintiffs’ favor.

The Indiana case is also important because of the manner in which the court explicated in detail the meaning of the constitutional right to “a general and uniform system of Common Schools…..equally open to all.” It held that the constitutional language “imposes a duty on the State to provide an education that equips students with the skill and knowledge enabling them to become productive members of society.” This means that:

Mere competence in the basics – reading, writing and mathematics – is insufficient in the beginning days of the Twenty-First Century to insure that this state’s public school students are fully integrated into the world around them. A broad exposure to the social, economic scientific, technological and political realities of today’s society is essential for our students to compete, contribute, and flourish in Indiana’s economy.

Montana

The second important decision issued during the first week in May was the Montana District Court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ motion for supplemental relief in Columbia Falls Elementary Sch. Dist v. State. Three years ago, the Montana Supreme Court upheld plaintiffs’ claim that the state’s funding system was not correlated with the “quality education” guaranteed by the state constitution. Although in the intervening years, the legislature has enacted a number of new laws in response to the court decision, plaintiffs claim that the response has not been “substantial:” although the State has contributed more money to the system, it has not addressed the structural deficiencies in the funding formula.

The court’s decision demonstrated a clear understanding of the importance of continuing judicial supervision of the implementation of effective remedies in education adequacy cases:“ [I]t does not appear to the Court to be a wise use of its resources to have the parties begin a new lawsuit that would take months, if not years, to prepare and weeks to try.” And it stated that “Plaintiffs’ request for an examination of whether the State’s actions have met the standards required by this Court and the supreme court does not seem to be unreasonable and out of the ambit of what courts frequently do in other civil cases.”

Prepared by Michael Rebell, May 8, 2008