An important win for education equality in NC

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, August 6, 2016.

A legal battle over North Carolina’s unequal schools -- one that’s dragged on for two decades -- seems to be heading toward a sensible conclusion.

That’s good news for our children and good news for democracy, too.

First, some background: It’s no secret that all Tar Heel schools are not created equal. The state provides only so much funding to its school systems. The rest is provided by the counties or municipalities where the school system is located.

That local support varies enormously. Relatively well-off counties, such as New Hanover and Brunswick, have large tax bases. They can afford to supplement their teachers’ salaries and pump in extra money where needed.

The same can’t be said for poor, rural counties with a lot of low-income pupils. They can’t raise as much through taxes, even though their tax rates often are higher.

Their schools can’t afford to pay teachers as much, which makes it even harder to attract first-rate instructors. And they can’t offer needed extras.

Back in 1994, parents and school systems from five rural counties filed a lawsuit, arguing that this system was not just unfair, but unconstitutional.

Superior Court Judge Howard Manning Jr., a generally conservative jurist appointed by Republican Gov. Jim Martin, agreed in what came to be known as the Leandro case.

Under North Carolina’s constitution, all pupils are guaranteed a sound basic education. Clearly, Manning ruled, these rural kids were not getting one. He ordered the state to fix the system.

There followed 20 years of litigation over how to do it. The legislature wasn’t especially helpful -- at one point, trying to make a grab for urban counties’ sales tax funds. That wasn’t helpful.

Now, however, things seem to be happening.

The state and the plaintiffs have agreed to hire a neutral adviser, or consultant, to come up with ways to better equalize the state’s school system.

Meanwhile, Gov. Roy Cooper is appointing a 17-member commission, with members from education, local government, business and other fields, to work with the consultant on turning the ideas into law.

Courts are good at deciding justice; they’re generally not so good at the brass tacks of implementing it. The consultant and the commission ought to have the moxie and the political clout to come up with a plan to help poor counties without hurting rich ones too much.

After years of squabbling and cheap political “gotchas” in our state’s politics, it sounds as if folks are finally playing nice and cooperating. Good for them, and good for us. And most of all, good for our children.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/opinion/20170806/editorial-aug-6-important-win-for-education-equality-in-nc