Fast Report

1/10/06–South Carolina funding system unconstitutional

• A circuit judge in South Carolina ruled Dec 29 that the state’s school funding system is unconstitutional because it underfunds early education programs in poor rural school districts. Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. found the state fails to guarantee a “minimally adequate education,” as required in the South Carolina Constitution.

The case, Abbeville County School District v. South Carolina, was brought by eight districts. They argued that the state’s school financing system is unfair because it relied too much on state property taxes and not enough on state dollars. As a result, the districts argued they didn’t have enough money to provide an adequate education.

The judge ruled that recent efforts by the state to improve achievement in poor schools was ineffective because they did not address the impact of poverty on young children.

But the decision found that facilities in the eight districts were “safe and adequate” and that curriculum standards and the teacher certification system were sufficient. The judge did not require districts to fix dilapidated school buildings or raise teacher pay. Both sides plan to appeal.

New Jersey plans steroid testing

• New Jersey Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed an executive order Dec. 20 requiring all high school athletes on teams that quality for postseason play to be subject to random steroid testing. The action makes New Jersey the first state to mandate steroid testing for high school athletes in all sports.

Codey calls the use of performance-enhancing drugs “a growing public health threat, one we can’t leave up to individual parents, coaches, or schools to handle.”

The executive order is based on a report from the Governor’s Task Force on Steroid Use and Prevention, which was created in response to national statistics demonstrating a growing use of steroids among high school students. 

Last year, 3.4 percent of 12th graders nationwide admitted to using anabolic steroids at least once, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse -- a 67 percent increase since 1991. In addition, 2.4 percent of 10th graders and 1.9 percent of eighth graders say they have used anabolic steroids at least once. 

Court to hear ‘Good News’ case

• A federal appeals court is preparing to hear a case on the constitutionality of a school district’s policy on the distribution of materials to students by outside organizations.

NSBA and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education submitted a brief to the U.S. Appeals Court for the 4th Circuit Dec. 14 urging that school boards be allowed to set “reasonable, viewpoint-neutral criteria” for outside groups’ access to students.

The case involves an organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maryland (CEF), which operates after-school Good News Clubs in several Montgomery County, Md., elementary schools.

CEF sued the Montgomery County school district in 2001, after school officials refused to allow the organization to send its information home with children. School officials were concerned that distributing CEF’s materials would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because the group’s aim is to proselytize young children.

A federal district court ruled for the school district. CEF then appealed to the U.S. 4th Circuit Appeals Court in Richmond, Va., which reversed that opinion and remanded the case to the district court.

The 4th Circuit acknowledged that Establishment Clause concerns can sometimes justify “viewpoint discrimination” but found in this case that the district could distribute CEF’s materials without violating the Constitution.

Before that decision, however, the Montgomery County school board revised its policy to allow only certain groups to distribute materials to students. These groups include the school district; county, state, and federal government agencies; parent-teacher organizations; licensed day care providers operating on campus; and non-profit organized sports leagues.

When the case was remanded to the district court, CEF argued that the revised policy continues to violate its free speech rights because CEF is effectively excluded while other groups continue to have access to students. The school system argued that its policy avoids free speech problems because its restrictions are content neutral.

The district court ruled in favor of the school system last March, stating that the revised policy constitutes a nonpublic forum. Even though CEF is not allowed to distribute its materials to students, it still could gain access to the classroom distribution forum if an approved group agrees to provide information from CEF.

The CEF appealed again to the 4th Circuit, charging that the school district continues to engage in impermissible viewpoint discrimination.

• The U.S. Department of Education launched a Center for Rural Education in December and named William L. Smith as its director. Smith was the last U.S. commissioner of education before the U.S. Education Department was created in 1980.