Lawmakers rather than courts should set education spending policy

Published March 16, 2006

The state of South Carolina battled in court with several school districts for a dozen years over the proper level of state spending on education. A state senator has introduced a constitutional amendment that would renew those battles.

When several poor, rural school districts challenged the state's education funding system, the question worked its way to the state Supreme Court. The court ruled that the state constitution requires the General Assembly to fund "minimally adequate" schools.

It put the question of whether the state was meeting that standard back to lower courts. Those courts finally decided only recently that the state should spend more money on preschool programs.

It was not the grand decision advocates for higher education spending wanted. So state Sen. John Matthews, D-Orangeburg County, has introduced an amendment that would eliminate the "minimally adequate" standard and replace it with a requirement that the state fund schools "at the level necessary to provide each student the opportunity to realize his highest educational potential."

If such an amendment were to pass, it would start the court battle all over again.

Matthews' standard is impossible to meet. If each and every student is to be provided the opportunity to realize his highest potential, it's hard to imagine a course of study the state wouldn't have to provide. If a student showed an aptitude toward playing the harpsichord, would the state then be obligated to provide harpsichord lessons so that student could realize his highest educational potential?

Including such a requirement in the constitution would encourage every parent to sue the state any time a child was denied a requested opportunity.

Educational funding policy and spending priorities should be set by the legislature, not by the courts.

Through their rulings, South Carolina courts wisely deferred when the case put the issue before them.

Lawmakers shouldn't try again to put decisions about education funding outside their own deliberations and into a courtroom.