NEWS
- D.C. attempts to block charter school funding equity lawsuit [FOCUS, Washington Latin PCS and Eagle Academy PCS mentioned]
D.C. attempts to block charter school funding equity lawsuit [FOCUS, Washington Latin PCS and Eagle Academy PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
June 18, 2015
On Tuesday representatives from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine's office did what they could before a Federal judge to stop a lawsuit from going forward over funding equity between charter schools and DCPS. The FOCUS-engineered legal action was brought by the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, Washington Latin PCS, and Eagle Academy PCS. Attorney Stephen Marcus is representing the charters.
In their argument the District made two main points in their case for dismissal. First, the District claimed that "unless Congress states otherwise, which it has not in this context, the Council's authority under the Home Rule Act specifically allows it to modify the substance of terms of a Congressional act, such as the School Reform Act, which is limited in its application to the District. Similarly, the fact that the School Reform Act was enacted by Congress does not transform it into a law of national significance, such that it must preempt Council legislation relating to school funding."
The second argument was that "the Council's legislative authority under the Home Rule Act extends to all subjects of legislation within the District unless specifically limited by Congress. That broad delegation includes the power to amend or repeal an act of Congress, where, as here, the Congressional act is limited in it application to the District. Therefore, Count 1 of the complaint, which charges a violation of the Home Rule Act and Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 17 of the Constitution arising out of alleged conflicts between the School Reform Act and subsequent Council legislation, must be dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim."
The bold assertion that the Council has the power to amend or repeal an act of Congress drew multiple questions from the judge. The city's attorney denied that the District's position was in fact that the Council could repeal an act of Congress even though this is exactly what the District's brief stated.
The city repeated multiple times that Congress has never prevented the District from amending the School Reform Act or stopped the inequities in funding between the two sectors.
In response, Mr. Marcus simply reiterated the point that the District is not sovereign and that precedence has been set that even if a law is passed specifically for the District of Columbia it is still the law of the United States of America because Congress has approved it. He added that the District must comply with an act of Congress which in this case mandates equal funding. Finally, Mr. Marcus concluded, the School Reform Act is Congressional law and subject to preemption.
Mr. Marcus remarked that no conclusions can be made regarding Congressional silence on the current state of school funding in the District of Columbia.
A decision on the move to dismiss the lawsuit should come in the next four to six months.
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