School Districts Seek to Fund a Lawsuit over Funding

Chet Brokaw:

South Dakota school districts and a coalition they formed are seeking a court order that would establish their legal right to fund a lawsuit that challenges the state’s school financing system.
The request was prompted by Attorney General Larry Long’s argument that the South Dakota Coalition of Schools and approximately 70 school districts have no legal standing to challenge the state’s system of funding education.
A judge should be able to rule on the legal issue quickly because no facts are in dispute, Long said Monday. The question of whether the districts and the coalition can support the school funding lawsuit involves only an interpretation of the law, he said.
“They’ve done what they’ve done, and the law is the law,” Long said.