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Idaho Supreme Court Says State Funding of Schools is Unconstitutional

Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Joshua Palmer, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho

Dec. 22--BOISE -- The state's method of funding schoolhouse construction is unconstitutional, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, but school administrators in Magic Valley remain skeptical about what will result from the ruling.

"We don't know that it will immediately help schools," said, Jim Cobble, Jerome School District superintendent. "It would be a knee-jerk reaction to say that it would."

Area administrators said they will wait to see how the Legislature responds to the ruling before they consider a possible outcome from the ruling. Their skepticism is the product of a legal battle that spans more than 15 years and has left bitter debates in its wake.

The 21-page ruling scolds the Legislature for quibbling over the details of a few crumbling schools while failing to look at the big picture -- that the local bonding system established by lawmakers to pay for school buildings is insufficient under the Idaho Constitution, leaving many students without a safe place to learn.

State Rep. Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, speaker of the House, said the ruling is not a decision, rather, it identifies a problem within the state's system for funding schoolhouse construction. He said the ruling suggests, though not explicitly, that school administrators and the Legislature must work together to identify solutions to the problem.

"Make no mistake about it," Newcomb said. "If the plaintiffs, or even the defendants, provide obstacles on this issue, then the ruling will be that much more harsh on the party that does it."

The lawsuit began in 1990, when 22 school districts calling themselves Idaho Schools for Equal Educational Opportunity banded together to sue the state over public school funding. The class-action lawsuit has bounced from court to court for 15 years, even making it to the Idaho Supreme Court a handful of times. In 2001, 4th District Judge Deborah Bail finally ruled the state's levy system was unconstitutional, prompting the state to bring a bevy of issues on appeal to the Supreme Court.

In a 4-1 decision, the high court's ruling Wednesday struck down those issues, stripping the case to a simple question of funding.

In the court document, the Richfield School District is listed as one of the 22 schools involved in the lawsuit. However, the district says it resigned from the lawsuit in 2002.

School districts throughout Magic Valley and the state have continued to follow the case. In the 15 years the case has been in litigation, almost every school district in Magic Valley went to voters for bonds to repair or build school facilities.

Most recently, the Jerome School District struggled for 15 years to pass a school bond that would pay for two buildings to replace their deteriorating elementary and middle schools. Students would study in stifling hot classrooms without air conditioning and most of the elementary school was not wheelchair-accessible.

"I think in some ways Jerome was the poster child for this case," Cobble said.

However, inadequate school facilities were not limited to Jerome County. An increasing number of federal and state programs are requiring school districts to accommodate them with additional class space and the use of common areas such as cafeterias. Consequently, schools are being forced to pay for additional facilities, or suffer state and federal penalties for failure to comply with mandated programs.

"The list of safety concerns and difficulties in getting funds for repairs or replacements is distressingly long," Justice Linda Copple-Trout wrote for the majority. "The overwhelming evidence not only supports, but compels the district court's conclusion of law: The funding system in effect in 2001 was simply inadequate to meet the constitutional mandate to provide a thorough system of education in a safe environment."

Idaho is the only state that gives no direct support for public school construction and still requires a two-thirds majority to approve local construction bonds. Wiley Dobbs, superintendent of the Twin Falls School District, said it has been difficult to be surrounded by states that pay at least half of school facility construction costs.

In her opinion, Copple-Trout wrote: "In short, the state fails to grasp the relevance of the adage 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.' " Still, the Supreme Court only ruled that there was a problem, and left the method of fixing it in the hands of the Legislature. And area administrators are cautiously optimistic about how the Legislature will handle the ruling.

"One of the biggest roadblocks is the super-majority vote required to change this," said David Hocklander, the superintendent of the Richfield School District. "That's a pretty high standard, so the question is how the Legislature will address these concerns."

Robert Huntley, the former Idaho Supreme Court justice representing the schools, said the ruling was a positive step for school children and their families.

"We look forward to a productive relationship with the office of the governor and members of the Idaho Legislature," Huntley said in a prepared statement. "We expect to achieve a 'win-win' package of legislation to meet the mandate of constitutionality as stated" in the decisions by Bail and the Supreme Court.

Idaho Deputy Attorney General Dave High, chief of civil litigation for the state, said he advised legislative leaders of the court's decision. While the parties could ask the high court to reconsider, High said the ruling is likely the effective end of the lengthy legal battle.

"We're viewing it as a good resolution of the case, largely because the court acknowledged the system was not working at the time (2001)," High said. "It put the ball back in the court of the Legislature to come up with a remedy and we think it's important that we not have this expensive litigation continuing to go on."

However, until school administrators see the Legislature's response to the ruling, they will simply watch the case as they have done for more than 15 years.

"The ruling doesn't change anything in the near future until an action is taken by the Legislature," Hocklander said. "It's surprising that these cases can go on for so long, so until there is an action I am going to be a little pessimistic."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho

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Source: The Times-News

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