Education lawsuit likely to continue

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Despite the recent passage of legislation to overhaul Missouri's system for funding public education, a pending lawsuit challenging how the state distributes financial aid to local school districts is likely to continue.

More than 300 of Missouri's 524 public school districts, including 52 in Southeast Missouri, are involved in the case, which was launched in January 2004. The lawsuit claims the state's education funding formula violates the Missouri Constitution by providing too little money that is unfairly distributed.

The Committee for Educational Equality, the larger of two groups of districts pursuing the case, is to meet today in Columbia to decide its course of action following the legislature's approval of a new formula last month to replace the existing system, which was enacted in 1993 in response to a similar lawsuit.

Alex Bartlett, the Jefferson City lawyer representing the committee, said he expects the case will proceed. The committee plans to publicly announce its decision on Tuesday, he said.

"I'm certain we will go forward, although there may be some districts that choose not to participate," Bartlett said.

While the basic arguments wouldn't change, Bartlett said the group's petition before the court would have to be revised to address issues in the new formula, many of which may not yet have come to light.

"There are some things that are going to develop," Bartlett said. "I'm not sure anyone exactly knows all the consequences -- intended and unintended."

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan put the case on temporary hold this year while the legislature tackled the matter. Bartlett said the earliest it could go to trial would be this fall, but probably not that soon as the parties will need time to study the ramifications of the new formula.

Even though the formula bill's supporters stated their hope that it would resolve districts' concerns, there was little expectation the case would be dropped.

After the bill passed, Gov. Matt Blunt encouraged districts to withdraw from the litigation.

"I think districts that would continue in the lawsuit really would betray the fact that their purpose is a tax increase on Missouri families," Blunt said. "We're talking about providing adequate support for public schools based on reasonable economic growth."

Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office is defending the state, had urged the legislature to include a provision in the bill to require the case to be dropped before the new system would be implemented as an incentive for districts to back off. That requirement was removed from the final bill.

At this point, Nixon said he isn't certain what impact the new formula will have on the state's position in court.

"The only thing for sure is the bill as passed by the legislature clearly does not appear to be ending the litigation," Nixon said.

Costly to start over

Poplar Bluff School District superintendent Randy Winston, whose district belongs to the CEE, said he is going into today's meeting with an open mind but expects most of his fellow administrators will want to proceed. There is a feeling, Winston said, that the case has progressed too far to abandon at this point, and that it would be difficult and costly to start over from scratch later if the new formula doesn't resolve the districts' concerns.

Winston said his preference is to keep the case in a holding pattern for the time being.

"It is too early to call it off, but I'd like to see it put on hold for a year and see what happens with the new formula," Winston said.

Sikeston School District superintendent Stephen Borgsmiller said his district will remain a plaintiff and is encouraging others to hold steadfast. Borgsmiller said the matter needs to be pursued all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court in order to finally get a definitive statement as to the legislature's constitutional obligations concerning education funding.

"If the last case had been taken to the Supreme Court, some of the issues we are wringing our hands over today would have been resolved," Borgsmiller said.

The Coalition to Fund Excellent Schools, the other group of districts involved in the lawsuit, will remain a party to the case as long as the main group pursues it, said David Glaser, the coalition's chairman and an administrator in the Rockwood School District in St. Louis County.

"We want to ensure we have a place at the table if a court makes a decision," Glaser said.

While the committee is challenging both adequacy of state funding and the fairness of its distribution, the coalition is pursuing only the adequacy issue. The Cape Girardeau, Perry County and New Madrid districts are coalition members. All other Southeast Missouri districts involved in the lawsuit belong to the CEE.

The new formula would be phased in over seven years, beginning with the 2006-2007 school year and ending with the 2012-2013 term. Until the final year, the current formula would remain partially in place.

Once fully implemented, the plan would boost direct state aid to public schools by an estimated $900 million over the $2.9 billion in education spending slated for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Many superintendents, however, say the increase simply reflects natural growth in education spending that would be expected over that period regardless of changes to the formula.

The case is Committee for Educational Equality, et al., v. State of Missouri, et al. The bill is SB 287.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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