Educators may file suit over funding

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

If Nevada lawmakers vote against a proposal by the state's school superintendents for $897 million in additional funding, educators say they may sue the Legislature for failing to adequately provide for students.

State and county education officials aren't eager to talk publicly about the potential for such a lawsuit, noting the 2003 Legislature won't convene until February to consider the iNVest Plan put forth by the state's 17 superintendents.

"We hope the Legislature will do the right thing so that we can avoid that kind of situation," Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia said. "However, our chances with the iNVest Plan aren't looking that great right now, so anything's possible."

The superintendents' plan -- which calls for hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher raises, extended bilingual and kindergarten programs and additional training days -- originally received mixed support from lawmakers. And the plan's chances of success have slipped further in light of the state's $800 million budget shortfall.

"It's an uphill battle, and we know that," said Randall Robison, executive director of the Nevada Association of Schools Boards. "But that just means we'll have to work that much harder to see it through."

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said the fiscal straits facing the state don't negate the significant need for better education funding.

"If we're going to vote for a tax increase, we might as well do something that's going to mean more than just maintaining the status quo," said Giunchigliani, who taught special education teacher in Clark County and now works as an administrator at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "We should do education funding right once and for all, and stop dancing around the problems every time the Legislature goes back into session."

So-called "adequacy suits" have been filed by numerous groups over the past decade to protest unfair educational funding. The American Civil Liberties Union has organized class action adequacy suits in California, Maryland and Arizona.

While the ACLU of Nevada has no immediate plans to become involved in such a suit, the group is keeping a close eye on the status of education funding in this state, Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said.

"The state has a responsibility to fund public education at a level that permits schools to fulfill their mandate to educate children," Peck said. "If lawmakers do not meet that obligation, I would expect any number of people and organizations to explore possible legal and other ways to fix the problem."

School boards have won rulings in Arkansas, Ohio and Arizona, among other states. In Kentucky in 1990, an adequacy suit successfully forced lawmakers to pass education reforms aimed at more equally distributing school dollars.

Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said his group has been tracking adequacy suits filed elsewhere. For now, Nevada's largest teachers union is focusing its energy on getting the iNVest plan passed, Lange said.

"It would be premature to discuss adequacy suits until we've exhausted all other possibilities," Lange said. "However, if the funding doesn't come together in this session, we'll certainly be looking at a variety of options to ensure the job gets done."