Group Files Lawsuit Against State Over Inadequate School Funding

Many say the lawsuit will fail to be productive in the end, either way it is a bold move by school funding advocates who feel they have exhausted conventional approaches.

Photo By: Tim King

(SALEM) - Several parties have filed a lawsuit against the state of Oregon demanding that it allocate nearly two billion dollars more per biennium to the public school system.

The Oregon School Funding Defense Foundation has been formed to carry out a school-funding plan that organizers say is essential. Now, eventually, it will be up to the courts to decide. Such lawsuits have already been filed in 37 states, and so far 21 of those cases have gone against the states.

Those 21 cases have resulted in courts ordering lawmakers to restructure school funding.

State lawyers in Oregon now have 30 days to respond to the suit.

The party bringing the suit forward with the Oregon School Funding Defense Foundation is comprised of 6 school districts and 3 families. They filed suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court against the state Tuesday. They are charging legislative leaders with chronic underfunding of schools, in violation of Oregon's constitution.

The six school districts are Pendleton, Eugene, Corvallis, Coos Bay, Crow-Applegate-Lorane and Three Rivers. The three families are from Hillsboro, Ashland and Portland. With the filing, the state becomes the 39th in the country to turn to the courts to get direction on school funding.

The Associated Press and Steve Buckstein, senior policy analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, contributed to this story.