Stephanie Lovett-Bowman, Friday, January 21, 2011 | Filed under: School Funding
A New York state appellate court has allowed a lawsuit challenging New York City-area school funding to proceed. In the case, Hussein v. State of New York, the parents of students in eleven schools districts outside New York City have sued the state, arguing that school underfunding violates the state Constitution. The parents allege that substantial school underfunding is depriving New York City-area children of a basic education.
Challenges like the one initiated by the New York parents are becoming increasingly common as school districts struggle to balance budgets without sacrificing services for students. Courts are often hesitant to hear such cases because they involve complex state fiscal policy and social policy decisions, rather than strictly legal questions. Nonetheless, the New York appellate court agreed with a lower court that the case should be allowed to proceed because it dealt only with school funding in New York City, rather than policy choices at the state level.