The Leandro case gets its next NC Supreme Court date

The court set Aug. 29 as the date, before any new justices would be seated on the court following 2022 elections. Parties will argue over how and if North Carolina needs to spend $785M more on teaching assistants, special education and more.

Posted 4:27 p.m. Jun 2, 2022 — Updated 4:35 p.m. Jun 2, 2022

Emily Walkenhorst

, WRAL education reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments later this summer in the long-running school funding lawsuit known as Leandro.

The court will hear arguments the week of Aug. 29, before any new justices would be seated on the court following 2022 elections. Democrats hold a 4-3 majority on the court. The case has become a partisan issue pushed by Democrats, after years of no plans under either political parties' leadership to resolve issues brought up in the case.

Parties will argue over Judge Michael Robinson's order, which states North Carolina still owes $785 million toward the so-called Leandro Plan but does not order the money to be transferred from state coffers to state agencies. That’s unlike previous Judge W. David’s Lee’s order. They'll file written briefs periodically until the hearing.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, have challenged Robinson's order, saying the General Assembly is adequately funding the state's education system. Proponents of Lee's order and full funding for the Leandro Plan want justices to consider the constitutionality of the court's ability to order a fund transfer, bypassing the General Assembly.

The $785 million in remaining funds due this year and next year, under the Leandro Plan, would go toward more school support professionals and teaching assistants, educator recruitment and retention efforts and different student groups who often show lower test scores, such as special education students, among other things.

The Leandro Plan is the only court-approved plan to address the 2004 state Supreme Court finding that the state is not providing a sound basic education to its 1.5 million public schoolchildren. The court did not rule that either funding or policy were the source of the failure but determined either could be the source, with more investigation. While five low-wealth county school boards sued, court proceedings primarily concerned inadequacies in Hoke County Schools.]

The full Leandro Plan calls for numerous policy changes, in addition to new programs and program funding increases that would total at least $5.6 billion in new, annual education spending by 2028. Other items in the plan include competitive salary increases, a more systematic approach to school accountability and turnaround, expanded pre-kindergarten and early childhood education and more career and college readiness programming, among other things.

The state spends well more than $10 billion on K-12 schools annually right now, with counties chipping in another $3 billion in education spending and more than $1 billion in capital expenses. North Carolina law says the state will fund education, while counties are responsible only for capital costs. The federal government, in a typical year, spends about $1 billion on North Carolina schools.

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