School funding ruling urged

HELENA – The Montana Supreme Court would abdicate its legal responsibilities by refusing to judge the constitutionality of Montana’s school-funding system, the lawyer for a coalition of education groups said Monday.

Jim Molloy urged justices to reject the state’s argument that the court should leave to the Legislature the “political question” of whether the state spends enough money on public schools.

The high court should not try to fashion a remedy for the flawed system – a job that belongs to lawmakers – but it cannot dodge the judiciary’s obligation to decide the constitutionality of government actions, Molloy said in written arguments.

“Refusing to decide the constitutional issues, as the state urges this court to do, would itself violate separation of powers by improperly ceding to the Legislature the judiciary’s exclusive authority to interpret the constitution,” he said.

The filing Monday was the latest development in a legal battle over the state’s method of financing schools. A handful of school districts and education organizations, under the umbrella of the Montana Quality Education Coalition, sued the state two years ago, alleging that state funding was neither equitable nor adequate.

A district judge ruled in April that the state did not provide enough money, but he did not find the system inequitable. Delaying the effective date of his decision until October 2005, Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena left it to next year’s Legislature to decide how to fix the problem.