Go figure, state funded lawyers are more important then educating our children.
South Dakota students aren’t guaranteed a quality education, a circuit judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the way the state pays for education does not violate the state constitution.
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Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur’s decision follows a trial that saw six superintendents complain that a lack of money was hurting South Dakota’s students. An appeal to the state Supreme Court now is likely, according to the lawyer representing students and their families.
Yesterday on several blogs and forums, the conservatives were claiming this to be a victory, but hardly. They also claimed that the case was over, not really.
Scott Abdallah, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said reaching the state Supreme Court was the goal from the outset: Unlike most states, South Dakota’s high court has never decided a school funding lawsuit.
But that wasn’t the only spew the conservatives spittled on themselves, they cried about how much this was costing taxpayers, trying to blame the plaintiffs for the cost, but guess who spent a cool million to defend the case? The state, not the plaintiffs. So who is really wasting taxpayer money?
The state spent almost $1 million from a special litigation fund, and the attorney general’s office spent a lot of time and money defending the lawsuit, he said.
Yes, the same governor who refuses to fund school’s properly, has no problem dropping a cool million on lawyers so he can prevent spending a couple extra million on schools each year. Makes sense. Not.
So how much did the plaintiffs have to pay their lawyer? Zilch.
School districts initially paid for the costs of the lawsuit, but since a judge ordered them to stop last year, Abdallah has been working the case without charge. The matter of whether those school districts can pay for a lawsuit to which they are not a party was argued before the Supreme Court in January but has not been decided; the justices’ decision on that will determine whether Abdallah gets paid.
“I made the decision that we had come this far and my clients deserved to have their day in court,” he said. “I think it’s just a really important issue and it’s an issue that will affect the lives of South Dakotans for years to come.”
Imagine that, principal above profit. Maybe Rounds needs to learn something about that.
l3wis