Hamilton County quest to seek class-action certification on school funding suit to be decided this week

Scott Bennett
Scott Bennett
photo Scott Bennett

NASHVILLE - A Davidson County judge says she expects to rule later this week on whether to grant class-action certification on a lawsuit filed by Hamilton County and six other area school boards who say Tennessee's education funding shortchanges them and students.

Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman made the announcement Wednesday afternoon following a nearly hourlong hearing during which Hamilton County Board of Education attorney Scott Bennett argued for the certification while Michael Markham, a senior counsel with the Tennessee Attorney General's office, argued against it.

Awarding the lawsuit class-action status would allow other local school systems to benefit, with the exception of Shelby County. The Memphis-based district filed its own lawsuit Monday, charging state government has violated the Tennessee constitutional provision mandating a free system of public education, but Shelby County is seeking unique remedies.

"This is a matter that affects all Tennesseans," Bennett said of the lawsuit filed by school systems in Hamilton, Bradley, Coffee, Grundy, Marion, McMinn and Polk counties. Bennett said "every district has a story" to tell on how inadequate state funding is harming efforts to educate students.

Citing three previous Tennessee Supreme Court rulings on school funding cases in the 1990s and early 2000s, Bennett said, "We're all receiving less money than the Supreme Court has said we need. This underfunding is a problem that belongs to every school system in the state."

Tennessee distributes its funding through its Basic Education Program, which was created in response to the first lawsuit filed by smaller systems in the early 1990s. The formula, through its 43 components, distributes some $6 billion annually to 144 school districts, which are required to share the cost based on local ability to raise revenues.

Bennett said state underfunding of teachers is a major sore point. Moreover, he argued, the state has continued to pile on various mandates that impact school spending.

Markham asserted the lawsuit doesn't meet requirements for class-action certification. These include factors such as whether one or more members of a class may sue as representative parties on behalf of all if the class is so numerous that having all join individually is impractical. Other factors include whether questions of law or fact are common to the class; the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interest of the class.

For example, Markham noted, only Hamilton and six nearby counties filed the original lawsuit in March. That's just seven of the 144 school systems, he said. Markham also questioned whether all the systems have similar concerns.

Metro Nashville, he pointed out, has filed a request not to be included in any class-action certification although it has not ruled out joining in at some point. And Shelby school officials are interested in going it alone in their suit, citing unique circumstances related to being the largest system in the state with vast numbers of low-income students.

Bennett said the seven boards filing the suit include both a large urban system - Hamilton - and smaller rural counties which are similar to the state as a whole. All school systems have a "vested interest" in the case, he said.

He also argued that a number of other school districts were interested in joining but backed off after state lawmakers, furious about the lawsuit, passed a law forcing systems suing the state to reimburse the state for its legal expenses should they lose.

Speaking with reporters later, Bennett said that is a primary reason for seeking class-action certification. Because Hamilton County sued prior to the law's passage, other systems could become part of the class action without risking having to pay for the state's expenses if they lose, he said.

Following arguments, Bonnyman told the attorneys "I'm going to give this some thought. My plan is to get an order out this week."

She said while Shelby County doesn't want to be part of the class action, she could move its suit, which is scheduled before another Davidson County chancellor, to her jurisdiction. The idea would still be to keep the suits separate but to ensure consistency in any ruling.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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