Educators and parents push for resolution in public school funding case

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Educators and parents pushed back against the NC Supreme Court for not taking up the Leandro school funding case before the end of this year.

Currently, there is no date scheduled for the courts to act on Leandro but after the courts opted not to take it up last week the earliest they could do so would be the end of January.

That makes it one of the longest stretches in state history between arguments and a decision.

The state supreme court has not taken up Leandro since February of 2024, when they heard oral arguments from Republican lawyers challenging an earlier ruling that the courts can order money to be spent on public schools.

The case dates all the way back to 1994 when five low-wealth school districts attempted to get more state funding.

In 2021, a superior court judge ordered the state to transfer more than a billion dollars towards an 8-year plan developed by a consultant to provide public school students with high quality teachers and principals.

That amount has since been reduced, but payments have been challenged along party lines for the last three years without a ruling.

On Monday morning, parents and advocates called on the courts to act.

"Our elementary school only had half the 5th grader teachers it needed. And I know how frightening that is. My daughter didn't have a teacher for nearly half of this last school year, and before that, she went through most of kindergarten without a teacher. And we are still working to close the gaps in her education because of it," said Melissa Price Kromm, who is the vice president of Hope Valley Elementary PTA.

Republican lawyers have argued only the General Assembly and not the courts have the authority under the state constitution to order the spending of state dollars.

Without a full state budget, education advocates say it's unlikely more funding for schools will be allocated.