Oklahoma Supreme Court Tosses School Funding Adequacy Suit

Mike Antonucci:

hope the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) received the public relations boost it desired from filing one of those "adequacy and equity" lawsuits, because the decision was an unmitigated legal and financial defeat.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision to dismiss the suit, dismantling the union's arguments. The court's ruling spends much time examining the whole question of whether OEA had standing to file the suit in the first place, even though this is a low threshold to meet. The justices noted:

"With few exceptions, 'constitutional rights are personal and may not be asserted vicariously.' The plaintiffs assert injury to the rights of Oklahoma's students. The OEA has not established that any of its members are Oklahoma students. Although some of the members of the OEA may be parents of Oklahoma students, this is insufficient to establish the OEA's standing to assert injury to the students' rights. The OEA has failed to meet its burden to show that any of its members have a right of their own to assert injury to the rights of Oklahoma's students. As the OEA's members cannot vicariously assert injury to the constitutional rights of Oklahoma's students, neither can the OEA."

Additionally, the court ruled "the plaintiffs have failed to allege any facts that would support a finding that the plaintiff school districts or OEA's members have an interest which is within a constitutionally protected zone...."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 10, 2007 12:01 AM
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