Educational Funding: Standing and Political Questions

Despite the Oklahoma Supreme Court's willingness to exercise its muscle to strike down certain recent legislation, (see here), the Court has also recently held that it could not review a particular lawsuit because it presented a non-justiciable political question. In Oklahoma Education Ass'n v. State ex re. Oklahoma Legislature, 2007 OK 30, 158 P.3d 1058, the Oklahoma Education Association and three school districts (Foyil, Western Heights, and Jenks) sued the Oklahoma legislature, including certain individual senators and representatives, arguing that the state legislature had failed in its duty to provide funding for common education. The plaintiffs alleged that the legislature thereby deprived school children of a constitutional right to a uniform opportunity to receive a "basic, adequate education according to standards set by the legislature, and deprived school districts of the ability to fulfill their constitutional and statutory duties to meet "contemporary educational standards established for every child."

The plaintiffs sought a declaration that the unfunded cost of meeting stautory education standards "exceeds one billion dollars" and that the unfunded capital needs of Oklahoma school districts "exceeds three billion dollars." The plaintiffs requested the Court order the legislature to design, formulate, adopt and fund a comprehensive system of educational funding, and to retain jurisdiction until the legislature had implemented the system.

The Court held that dismissal of the lawsuit was appropriate for two reasons: standing and justiciability.

Standing. The Court held that the OEA did not have standing to advocate on behalf of Oklahoma students. The OEA did not establish that any of its members were students. "As the OEA's members cannot vicariously assert injury to the constitutional rights of Oklahoma's students, neither can the OEA." The Court also held that the school district-plaintiffs failed "to allege facts which support[ed] their standing to assert the rights of all Oklahoma students." The Court noted that it is hesitant to address the constitutionality of a legislative act until presented with a proper case "in which it appears the complaining person has been or is about to be denied a right or privilege to which the person is lawfully entitled." The Court also disposed of the school district's argument that their standing could be based on their duty to comply with unfunded or partially-funded legislative mandates or risk sanctions or other penalties. The Court held that the Oklahoma Constitution imposed on the Legislature the duty to fund the school system, and that school districts and their boards are "but the vehicles which the Legislature uses to carry out this constitutional duty." The constitutional provisions impose no duty on local school districts, school boards, or school employees to maintain or establish public schools. Their standing arguments could therefore not be found in the state's unfunded mandates.

Political Question. The Court also held that it would be futile to allow Plaintiffs to amend their petition, and that dismissal with prejudice was therefore appropriate. This is because, even if the plaintiffs had standing to pursue their claims, the case presented a non-justiciable political question.

The Court noted that the Oklahoma Constitution charges the Legislature -- not the Courts -- with the duty to establish a public school system. The "Legislature has few constitutional restraints in carrying out its duty to establish and maintain a free public educational system." Fiscal policy is exclusively within the Legislature's power. The Court held that the plaintiffs were "attempting to circumvent the legislative process by having this Court interfere with and control the Legislature's domain of making fiscal-policy decisions and of setting educational policy by imposing mandates on the Legislature and by continuing to monitor and oversee the Legislature. To do as the plaintiffs ask would require this Court to invade the Legislature's power to determine policy. This we are constitutionally prohibited from doing."