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Court fines Washington state over education funding
Court News |
2015/08/14 09:11
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Washington officials are considering a special legislative session after the state Supreme Court issued daily fines a of $100,000 until lawmakers comply with a court order to improve the way the state pays for its basic education system.
Thursday's order, signed by all nine justices of the high court, ordered that the fine start immediately, and be put into a dedicated education account.
The court encouraged Gov. Jay Inslee to call a special session, saying that if the Legislature complies with the court's previous rulings for the state to deliver a plan to fully fund education, the penalties accrued during a special session would be refunded.
Inslee and legislative leaders are set to meet Monday in Seattle discuss what next steps the state should take.
"There is much that needs to be done before a special session can be called," Inslee said in a statement. "I will ask lawmakers to do that work as quickly as humanly possible so that they can step up to our constitutional and moral obligations to our children and lift the court sanctions."
The ruling was the latest development in a long-running impasse between lawmakers and justices, who in 2012 ruled that the state is failing to meet its constitutional duty to pay for the cost of basic education for its 1 million schoolchildren.
Thomas Ahearne, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the court's action "is long overdue."
"The state has known for many, many years that it's violating the constitutional rights of our public school kids," Ahearne said. "And the state has been told by the court in rulings in this case to fix it, and the state has just been dillydallying along."
The lawsuit against the state was brought by a coalition of school districts, parents, teachers and education groups — known as the McCleary case for the family named in the suit.
In its original ruling, and repeated in later follow-up rulings, the justices have told the Legislature to find a way to pay for the reforms and programs they had already adopted, including all-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes, student transportation and classroom supplies, and to fix the state's overreliance on local tax levies to pay for education. Relying heavily on local tax levies leads to big disparities in funding between school districts, experts say. |
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Penn State ex-officials' case heads to appeals court hearing
Court News |
2015/07/14 09:27
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A long delayed criminal case against three former Penn State administrators accused of covering up complaints about Jerry Sandusky is heading to a Pennsylvania courtroom next month, but not for trial.
Superior Court — a state appeals court — last week scheduled oral argument before a three-judge panel in Harrisburg for Aug. 11 to consider the claims by Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz regarding a county judge's decision earlier this year.
If upheld, the judge's order could clear the way for trial in the matter that has gone on for nearly four years without a trial date being set.
The appeals court file has been sealed, but the online docket indicates the men are appealing a January order by Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover that rejected arguments they had made about the fairness and legality of the grand jury investigation that resulted in charges.
All three defendants held high-ranking positions at the university in 2011, when Sandusky, the former assistant football coach, was charged with sexual abuse of children; Spanier was president, Schultz was vice president for business and finance and Curley was athletic director.
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Jury: Court gunman's relatives guilty of cyberstalking
Court News |
2015/07/13 09:26
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A federal jury says the death of a woman who was shot by her former father-in-law a Delaware courthouse in 2013 was the result of cyberstalking by the gunman's widow and children.
Jurors on Friday found former optometrist David Matusiewicz; his mother, Lenore; and his sister, Amy Gonzalez, guilty of conspiracy and stalking resulting in the death of David's ex-wife, Christine Belford.
Justice Department officials have said they believe there is no precedent for a person being convicted on federal charges of cyberstalking resulting in death, which carries a possible life sentence.
Belford and a friend were killed by David's father, Thomas Matusiewicz, who then exchanged gunfire with police before killing himself.
The defendants will remain in custody pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct. 15.
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Appeals court upholds parts of Arizona ethnic studies ban
Court News |
2015/07/09 21:01
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday kept alive a legal challenge brought by former students who sued Arizona over a ban on ethnic studies in public schools and who will have a new chance to argue the law discriminates against Mexican Americans.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld most of a lower court's decision. But it sent the case back to a federal court in Tucson, where a judge will decide whether the ban was enacted with discriminatory intent in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Attorneys for the students claimed victory based on the part of the ruling that provides them new opportunity to go before a judge and make their case on a key provision of their argument. A spokesman for the Arizona Attorney General's Office said the agency was still reviewing the ruling and did not have immediate comment.
The law was passed by the Arizona Legislature in the same session that lawmakers enacted the landmark immigration legislation known as SB1070. It shuttered the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies program, sparking protests from students who they benefited from the courses. The majority of students in the district are Hispanic. The program taught them about historic events relating to the Mexican-American experience such as their indigenous roots and the Mexican Revolution.
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