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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Ind. Decisions - Supreme Court decision in school finance case pending
On Dec. 4, 2008 the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Philip A. Bonner, et al. v. Mitch Daniels, et al. Here are several ILB entries on the event. Here is the ILB summary of the May 2, 2008 Court of Appeals opinion.
Today, Dan Carpenter, op-ed columnist for the Indianapolis Star, has a column about the case. Some quotes:
Any moment now, or perhaps any month, the Indiana Supreme Court will issue a ruling that might herald a historic change in the way public education is paid for in this state.Heretofore, school funding has come down to biennial battles in the legislature between Democrats, who fear for urban districts, and Republicans, who favor the faster-growing suburban systems and nonunion charter schools.
A fundamental question -- is state financial support for education adequate for everyone and fair to the disadvantaged? -- has gone unanswered.
What the Supreme Court must decide is whether that is a constitutional question (for the courts to take on) or a political one (to be left to the General Assembly to continue hashing out).
If it decides the former, as the Indiana Court of Appeals has done, then Indiana could join that majority of states in which "adequacy and equity" have been tested in court. Of the 29 outcomes at last report, the plaintiffs have prevailed 20 times, meaning their states have had to rework their school funding formulas.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 10, 2009 02:10 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions