Suit claiming state funds schools unfairly could move forward as two cases

A Chancery Court judge on Wednesday said he would split a lawsuit over how Delaware funds education.

During a hearing on a motion to dismiss the case, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster told lawyers to prepare to argue about how the state assesses property taxes.

Laster said he would consider what to do with the part of the suit that dealt with whether Delaware is meeting its constitutional obligation to students separately. 

The lawsuit was filed by two civil rights groups —  Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and the Delaware NAACP — in January and demands the state change how it funds education. It claims the system provides more support for children who are well off than it provides for children living in poverty. 

There are also fewer resources available to schools because property values have not been reassessed for more than 30 years, the lawsuit claims.

The result is that the underlying school tax base has remained flat for decades while the cost of running schools has risen substantially due to inflation and increased enrollment. 

The defendants in the case — Gov. John Carney, Education Secretary Susan Bunting, State Treasurer Kenneth Simpler and finance directors for New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties — were trying to get the case dismissed in Chancery Court Wednesday. The courtroom was packed for the oral arguments, and extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate the unusually large crowd of lawyers, law students, spectators and members of the civil rights groups. 

Vice Chancellor Travis Laster was unwilling to throw the suit out without a good reason, he said.

He said he was wary of arguments that keep plaintiffs out of the courtroom and don't even give them a chance to argue their case. 

Laster told the lawyers he would issue a written ruling and that the court would consider the complaint about tax assessments separately.

BACKGROUND

Civil rights groups sue Delaware over education funding for disadvantagedstudents

Lawsuit: Delaware schools are leaving children in povertybehind

He then moved onto whether or not Delaware is constitutionally obligated to provide students an "adequate" education.

Tied up in that issue is whether or not the judicial branch has jurisdiction over legislative funding formulas, or could even establish what an "adequate" education is in the first place. 

Kathaleen McCormick, representing Carney, Bunting and Simpler, didn't think so.

She argued that Delaware's Constitution doesn't guarantee students a fair or "adequate" education system, but a "general and efficient" one that achieves maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. 

"Equality and adequacy are laudable goals," she said, "but we do not find any language that says the judicial system has any right to decide if schools are adequate." 

That falls to the General Assembly, she said. If people are unhappy with how legislators have set up Delaware's education system, they can vote in new representatives. 

Richard Morse, an attorney with the Community Legal Aid Society representing the plaintiffs, said you need an adequate education to be a productive member of society, which is what Delaware's framers would have wanted. 

The General Assembly has failed students on that front, he said. 

Laster asked why the concept of "school" itself didn't imply some sort of adequacy. After all, you can't just assign a teacher to a building, forgo giving them any textbooks or supplies and say you've founded a school. It takes more than that. 

"The question is: Are students receiving schooling?" he said. "Legitimate schooling?"

He also pointed out that majoritarian democracy, based upon a majority rule of a society's citizens, can lead to trouble. Later, the plaintiffs' attorney used racial segregation as an example. It took the judicial system to overthrow laws perpetuating such discrimination. 

Laster said he would need more time to consider whether or not he would take up some of those issues. 

"You should not expect a decision in a matter of days, or even in a matter of weeks," he said, pointing out he legally has 90 days to issue a ruling. 

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Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.