DENVER School advocates are defending the stunning victory they scored last week when a Denver judge ruled the states education funding system unconstitutional.
The result could eventually boost school budgets by $1 billion to $4 billion a year. The upper figure would nearly double the budget of public schools statewide.
But in the short term, schools are facing down another year of cuts.
The verdict has Gov. John Hickenlooper and legislators scratching their heads about what to do. Hickenlooper had asked in November for a fourth-straight year of cuts for public schools.
If we would try to find $4 billion from the rest of the budget, we would have literally no prisons. We would have no state funding for higher education. We would be out of compliance with the federal requirements for health care. Im flummoxed, to be quite frank, at how the state goes forward, Hickenlooper said.
Denver District Judge Sheila Rappaports ruling in the Lobato case named for the San Luis Valley family who are the lead plaintiffs is on hold until at least the end of the 2012 legislative session, to give lawmakers time to either fix the system or appeal her ruling.
Supporters of the lawsuit are encouraging Hickenlooper to forego an appeal and start boosting aid to schools now.
This is a wake-up call, and the last thing our kids need is for the state to hit the snooze button, said Lisa Weil, policy director for Great Education Colorado.
But state leaders are nearly certain to appeal, and that turns all eyes to the state Supreme Court, and especially its two newest members.
The high court already ruled for the plaintiffs once in this case. In 2009, justices rejected the states argument that the courts have no business in deciding how much money schools should get.
But since that 4-3 decision, two justices on the majority side have left the court.
The two new justices are Monica Marquez, appointed by former Gov. Bill Ritter, and Brian Boatright, who just joined the court a month ago after an appointment by Hickenlooper.
Although Hickenlooper opposed the Lobato lawsuit, he told reporters he never discussed it with Boatright.
Colorado Republicans frequently criticize the Supreme Court for inserting itself into political matters. But Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, did not offer a prediction on the appeal.
I dont think anybody can handicap where this Supreme Court is going to go. There are two new faces, and we dont know how they are going to view Lobato, McNulty said.
But Weil thinks Rappaport handed down a legally solid ruling.
When Supreme Court justices had the case in 2009, they told the lower court it had to determine if the Legislatures budget for schools bore any rational relationship to the standards it set for schools.
Attorney General John Suthers and Hickenlooper are still conferring on an appeal, and Suthers had nothing more to add, said his spokesman, Mike Saccone.
The judge ripped Colorados school budget, calling it unconscionable. She cited the Bethune school district, which uses a closet to offer psychotherapy to its special-needs kids, and Cortez teacher Matt Keefauver, who works a second job to pay for classroom supplies and field trips.
Weil said all legislators should read the 183-page decision.
This is the most in-depth investigation into our public education system and public school funding system possibly ever, Weil said.
McNulty said legislators already make school funding a priority, and they proved it by reducing the cuts Hickenlooper had planned last year.
But they dont have the same luxury as judges when deciding how much to spend on schools.
Families have to meet their budgets, small businesses have to meet their budgets, state government has to live within its budget. Judges arent constrained by that, McNulty said.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.
