20 years later, we're still waiting for Leandro results

Published July 28, 2017

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, July 26, 2017.

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the N.C. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling in the Leandro v. State case, in which it said every student in this state has a constitutional right to “receive a sound basic education.”

The court defined that education as one that equips a student with the ability to read, write and speak the English language, and provides sufficient mathematical and science knowledge to function in a fast-changing world. It said students must gain a good-enough understanding of geography, history, economics and politics to make informed choices for themselves and their community, state and country. The schools must give students sufficient academic and vocational skills to succeed in post-secondary education or vocational training. And students must gain the educational and vocational skills they need to compete on an equal basis for higher education or gainful employment.

So, how far have we come in achieving those goals in the past two decades? Not nearly far enough. And in some areas, we haven’t made much progress at all.

The Leandro case was a big deal around here. Cumberland, Hoke and Robeson were three of the five low-wealth counties that brought the suit (Halifax and Vance were the others). The Leandro family, lead plaintiffs in the case, were Hoke residents. While the court was careful to say that the state wasn’t obligated to provide equal funding to all school systems across the state, it did establish minimum performance standards.

The high court handed the case over to Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, who was charged with seeing that the state complied with the ruling. Over and over, the judge hauled state education officials into his courtroom, seeking evidence of improvement. And time after time, he expressed disappointment with the results he was seeing. Manning retired last year, and it’s fair to say he never got the progress he demanded.

The case is still alive, and just this week, both sides in the suit called for an independent consultant to review the progress (or lack of it) over the past 20 years and to make recommendations on how every North Carolina student can get a quality education.

At the same time, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order to establish the Governor’s commission on Access to a Sound Basic Education. The 17-member board is to meet at least quarterly with the consultant to review the consultant’s findings and to coordinate with “policy experts” in the governor’s office.

It’s surprising that the effort doesn’t include the State Board of Education, but that board, in fact, has filed a motion to be removed from the Leandro case. “Because the factual and legal landscapes have significantly changed,” the motion states, “the original claims, as well as the resultant trial court finding and conclusions are divorced from the current laws and circumstances.” That’s nonsense. Our children are still failing, because their schools are failing them. We see the results of our school efforts daily in this region. We see it in the dropout rate, in the crime rate, in the poverty rate.

And we see school systems that have lost teachers and laid off thousands of teacher assistants in waves of education funding cuts. We see old school buildings and teachers who have to dig into their own pockets for classroom supplies. And we see children who are graduating from high school without those basic life skills that the Leandro decision called essential.

We expected better when the Leandro ruling came down two decades ago, and our expectations were much too high. We hope that the addition of a consultant and a new commission will rekindle efforts to meet the standards that the Leandro case established, but real progress won’t happen unless state education officials and the General Assembly are on board and equally committed to progress.

Our kids deserve so much more than they've gotten.

http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/20170726/our-view-20-years-later-still-waiting-for-leandro-results