(The Center Square) – A North Carolina judge has ordered the state to increase education funding by $1.7 billion.
Superior Court Judge David Lee entered a court order Wednesday directing North Carolina to use unallocated money to fund the first two years of a court-ordered action plan within the next 30 days.
In Leandro v. the State of North Carolina, plaintiffs claimed poor school districts were not receiving the same educational resources as wealthy school districts. They argued the state was not doing what it took to ensure it met its constitutional obligation. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered a plan be drafted to meet the state’s requirement. The plan called for $5.6 billion in new K-12 funding by 2028.
Despite having $8 billion in unused funds, the General Assembly’s current spending plans do not fully fund the court order. Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked Lee to order the state to allocate the funding.
Democrats, including Gov. Roy Cooper, have rallied for full funding of the plan, calling it the “moral” thing to do. Republicans said Lee’s order aims to override the Legislature’s constitutional authority to control state spending.
“Any GOP attempts to stand in the way show they truly do not want to fund our children’s education,” Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, said Wednesday in a tweet.
Lee said “the Constitution is the direct will of the people.”
Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, called the court proceedings a “circus” in a joint statement released Wednesday.
“This case has devolved into an attempt by politically allied lawyers and the governor to enact the governor’s preferred budget plan via court order, cutting out the legislature from its proper and constitutional role,” Berger and Moore said. “If Judge Lee’s orders are followed, the legislature’s core duty is usurped by an unelected county-level trial judge and an out-of-state consultancy funded by the governor and his political allies.”
Nyamekye Daniel is a staff reporter for The Center Square.
Originally published by The Center Square. Republished with permission.
