WI Republicans Seek to Dismiss Public Education Funding Lawsuit

WI Republicans Seek to Dismiss Public Education Funding Lawsuit Suit cites state constitution mandate that all children must have access to sound basic education. Legislative Republicans are asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this year by parents and educators from across Wisconsin alleging lawmakers have failed to adequately fund public schools. In February, 19 plaintiffs, led by the Wisconsin PTA, filed a complaint against the Legislature for “not meeting its constitutionally mandated obligation to provide all children with an equal opportunity for a sound basic education.” In an April 13 filing with Eau Claire County Circuit Court, Republicans said the 110-page complaint makes “sweeping constitutional claims against Wisconsin’s school finance system, while asking the judiciary to take over the Legislature’s constitutional role in funding primary and secondary education.” Republicans cited a 2000 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision upholding the state’s school funding system as constitutional. “For all of Plaintiffs’ sky-is-falling assertions, the school finance