Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s education system is constitutional. That decision, in the so-called Lobato case, saves the state billions of dollars and avoids a potentially huge tax increase as well as a possibly massive disruption of state government.
It also preserves an educational system the state’s chief justice rightly described as “fundamentally broken” and throws into question the meaning of the word “uniform.” And with that, it makes clear the critical importance of this year’s effort to reform education funding.
The Lobato case, named for one of the plaintiffs, was a lawsuit filed by residents of the San Luis Valley and subsequently joined by school districts across the state. Its central contention was that Colorado’s system for funding education violates the state Constitution’s requirement that it provide a “thorough and uniform” system of public education.
It would seem obvious that if school districts end up with widely disparate amounts of money per pupil that their students are not getting a “uniform” education. As reported by The Denver Post, however, the court did not agree. In a 4-2 ruling, with one justice having recused herself, it found the current system is “rationally related” to the constitutional standard. The plain reading of “thorough and uniform” notwithstanding, the court said the Constitution does not require “absolute equality in the state’s provision of educational services, supplies or expenditures.”
In dissent, Chief Justice Michael Bender pointed to the need for qualified teachers, modern textbooks, technology and facilities, as well as the Legislature’s habit of adding educational standards without appropriate funding. All that, he said, should be seen as part of what must be considered in deciding what “thorough and uniform” means. The state’s education system, he wrote, “is plagued by underfunding and marked by gross funding disparities among district.”
Still, as a rule, courts do not like turning over major apple carts, so Lobato is out. And state officials can breathe easier. The office of the attorney general has said had the court affirmed Lobato the state may have had to raise taxes by as much as 50 percent or see education consume almost 90 percent of the state’s general fund.
But that decision leaves the underlying problem to which Bender referred, except that now it will be up to the voters. In its recently concluded session, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 213, said to be the most significant change to school funding in a generation. Among other things, it will mean full-day kindergarten, a longer school year in some cases, more responsibility for principals and, in all but 12 of the state’s 178 school districts, more money for schools.
Under the revised funding scheme Cortez schools would get an additional $1,257 per student. The increases for Durango and Bayfield would be $554 and $211 respectively.
All of that depends, however, on voter approval this fall of a $1.1 billion tax increase. And that issue is complicated by the fact that, as of now, no such ballot measure exists. Supporters of the reforms reportedly have not yet agreed on whether to frame the increase as a flat tax or as a graduated income tax.
The Lobato ruling does nothing to answer that choice. What it does though is to make it clear that the courts are not going to fix the schools by decree. If the people of Colorado wish to reform and properly fund their schools, it is up to them to do so. They should have that chance in November.
