Plaintiffs Disappointed by Missouri Trial Court Ruling

Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan issued a preliminary, but telling, order on August 29, 2007, in Committee for Educational Equality (CEE) v. State, the constitutional challenge to Missouri’s public school funding system. He held that the state constitution only requires that at least 25% of state revenues be used to fund the public schools.

Anticipating an appeal, Judge Callahan has set a hearing for September 20, 2007, and he has stated that he wants to issue a final order soon.

Judicial Review Upheld

The circuit court rejected defendants’ argument that school funding is a political issue that “should be left to the discretion of the legislative and executive branches of government,” instead stating, “judicial review of legislative enactments is central to our system of checks and balances and this Court declines defendants’ invitation to avoid” that responsibility.

Twenty-five Percent

The Missouri Constitution, Article IX, states that:

A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools in this state within ages not excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.

Another section of Article IX states that:

[I]n no case shall there be set apart less than twenty-five percent of the state revenue…to be applied annually to the support of the free public schools.

In a similar lawsuit in 1993, a strongly worded circuit court opinion held that the constitution establishes a right to adequacy beyond the twenty-five percent requirement. In that lawsuit, Judge Byron Kinder declared that Missouri is constitutionally required to “’maintain’ a system of education…available to all Missouri children at the level necessary in this era to ‘preserve the rights and liberties of the people’.” However, as Judge Callahan observed, the 1993 decision was not tested on appeal.

Other Claims

To win on their claim that the current funding system violates the constitution’s provision against unfunded state mandates (“Hancock Amendment claims”), the court concluded that plaintiffs failed to present “specific proof” that “new mandated activity increases the school district’s costs, and…that the state does not provide funding for the program.”

The court also held that the plaintiff-intervenors, the Committee for Excellent Schools, who had presented evidence on their tax fairness claims, lacked standing to challenge property tax assessments.

Reactions

A statement from Governor Matt Blunt praised the ruling, which upheld the school funding mechanism he signed into law. Yet, Superintendent of the Nixa School District, Stephen Kleinsmith, treasurer of the plaintiff Committee for Educational Equality, said “with respect to Judge Callahan, we believe he’s made an error,” and “the likely next step is to take this to the Missouri Supreme Court,” as reported by The Joplin Globe.

Prepared by Molly A. Hunter and Marcela Briceno, September 14, 2007