SCS correct to sue state over school funding obligation

It is never a good thing when government entities sue each other to resolve a dispute, because it seems the only winners are the attorneys who net significant legal fees.

Still, as we have said before in this space, sometimes a lawsuit is the only way to resolve an important public-policy issue. That is why we feel the Shelby County Board of Education made the right call in suing the state of Tennessee, alleging an unconstitutional failure to fully fund public schools.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Davidson County, accuses the state of withholding funds and disproportionately hurting children in impoverished areas. The lawsuit shines a spotlight on hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts Shelby County Schools was forced to make over the last several years, leading to fewer teachers, increased class sizes, deteriorating facilities and overall poor-performing schools.

The SCS board’s lawsuit is separate from a similar action jointly filed against the state in March by Hamilton County and six smaller school systems. SCS general counsel Valerie Speakman said, given Shelby County’s high poverty rate, SCS wanted to argue its point separately. According to the suit, 84.3 percent of the district’s students were considered economically disadvantaged in the 2012-13 school year.

State lawmakers have never fully funded the formula for public school allocations, called the Basic Education Program, or BEP. SCS leaders have said if the district were to get what the formula says it is entitled to receive, it would get $103 million more per year.

We understand that there are some residents who maintain that giving school districts more money is not the total answer to having students being able to master core subjects. That is a valid argument up to a point.

In a district like SCS, where more than 80 percent of the students come from economically disadvantaged households and where there is a preponderance of failing schools, that $103 million would pay for the ancillary staff and services needed to help those students succeed academically. Instead, because of county school funding limitations, SCS has had to cut staff and programs.

Memphis lawyer Lewis Donelson filed a successful small-schools lawsuit challenging the state’s distribution of funds to rural and urban school districts. The lawsuit forced the General Assembly to approve the BEP in 1992, which resulted in additional money going to schools. The legislature reworked the BEP formula in 2007, but it has never funded it.

The BEP is state law, and it is a matter of significant public policy to have the courts say whether the legislature is obligated to follow the law. The lawsuits filed by the SCS board and the other school districts are a gamble. They could lose, but at least there will be a definitive answer on the state’s obligation regarding school funding.

It is worth a lawsuit to find out.