South Dakota's school-aid formula has cost almost $1 million to defend
A lawsuit over South Dakota's school-aid formula has cost almost $1 million to defend so far, Gov. Mike Rounds says. Rounds told legislators during his budget message that the lawsuit, brought by a group of parents of school children, has cost $948,750. “We are being sued, the taxpayers of South Dakota, the Legislature, are being sued by some school districts," the governor said. While a number of schools have indicated they support the lawsuit, none are named as plaintiffs in the case. Scott Abdallah, a lawyer for the parents in the lawsuit, said depositions from school officials, including members of the state Board of Education, describe conditions “so bad in certain South Dakota school districts that they would not send their own children to school there.” The plaintiffs charged that the state is failing to fulfill its constitutional duty to adequately fund K-12 schools. A study by a coalition of schools two years ago concluded that the state's funding method is at least $133 million low and perhaps as much as $400 million below what would be considered adequate funding. Rounds singled out the cost of the lawsuit as a way to try to intimidate schools, said House Democratic leader Dale Hargens. “He didn't have to include a separate line in his budget to talk about one lawsuit,” Hargens said. “He could have included it in the litigation fund just a few lines up the page. Clearly, it was a shot across somebody's bow.” Last month, Attorney General Larry Long confirmed that a St. Louis law firm is under contract to work with the state on the lawsuit. Long said the firm has experience with similar lawsuits in other states. That contract, based on an hourly rate of $295, has a maximum possible cost of $325,000. The state's decision to hire the outside law firm “may account for a large part of the amount” the governor mentioned as the cost of the case, Abdallah said.
Argus Leader By Terry Woster
[Editor’s Note: This past May, Mr. Long called for a state audit of about 70 school districts and the South Dakota Coalition of Schools to determine whether they were illegally funding the lawsuit. See below. According to Brian Aust, Director of Communications for the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, the state Auditor General agreed with Mr. Long and instructed the districts to recoup the funds or have school board members reimburse the districts. In response to that administrative action, several school board members have gone to court seeking a declaratory judgment on the question. Meanwhile, a few districts are dealing with subpoenas from the Attorney General demanding several years of budget information, teacher evaluations, etc.]
NSBA School Law pages on Attorney General’s assertion