The latest batch of rulings from the state Supreme Court once again didn't include a decision on the decades-old Leandro case for school funding.
It’s been nearly two years since the court heard arguments in the case, and education advocates are frustrated over the delay.
At a press conference Monday, the North Carolina Association of Educators accused the state Supreme Court of “neglect.”
“They made a decision to neglect almost 1.5 million public school children here in North Carolina,” she said. “They neglected their needs for books in classrooms. They neglected their need for school counselors and nurses in our buildings. They neglected the need for us to have safe buildings, smaller class sizes, and educators who are supported, not exhausted and burnt out.”
The so-called Leandro case has been going on since 1994, when five low-wealth school districts sued the state, alleging the state was not providing enough money to fund an adequate education.
The courts have found that all North Carolina students have a right to a “sound, basic education” and that the state was denying students that right by not adequately funding schools.
In 2022, the then-Democratic majority state Supreme Court ordered the state to release funding for part of a comprehensive remedial plan.
But after the court flipped to a Republican majority, it agreed to reconsider that ruling. The court last heard the case in February 2024. At issue is a question of whether the courts can legally compel the legislature to fund a statewide education plan.
Advocates said Monday they expected a ruling last week. But they also put blame on the General Assembly, which has, for years, not provided enough funding to address the court’s concerns — an issue that goes back across periods of leadership from both parties.
“The courts have said that they must fund it, but year after year, the North Carolina General Assembly has refused to comply fully,” said Melissa Price-Kromm, executive director of the group NC For the People Action. “And right now, that failure is being compounded by the absence of a state budget. When there is no state budget, public education is effectively placed on a starvation diet.”
WFAE contacted the state Supreme Court for comment, but did not hear back.
