News
Looking back at Leandro ahead of the latest N.C. Supreme Court hearing
Carolina Journal recaps key aspects of the long-running Leandro school funding story. This case returns to the state’s highest court Aug. 31.
News
Manning: Leandro case is about breakdown of classroom instruction
The former presiding jurist in the Leandro school funding case says the current struggles facing public schools in North Carolina are more about a breakdown in classroom instruction than a lack of funding. Former Superior Court Judge Howard Manning made the comments in an exclusive sit-down interview with Carolina Journal at his Raleigh home. “It’s...
News
Leandro judge sets off constitutional firestorm by ordering $1.7 billion transfer
A retired Union County judge is trying to leapfrog the Republican-led N.C. General Assembly by ordering a $1.7 billion transfer from the state’s coffers to fund public education. The transfer would bankroll two years of a remedial plan in the long-running Leandro school funding case that dates back to 1994. The price tag for the...
News
Original Leandro judge disputes notion that judges can force new education spending
The original judge in North Carolina’s long-running Leandro school funding lawsuit disputes the notion that a judge can force other government actors to spend more money on education. Retired Wake County Judge Howard Manning offers that assessment in the form of a newly released memorandum. It’s addressed to the General Assembly, governor, attorney general, and...
Opinion
Will the courts order lawmakers to make money appear magically?
In late 2000, Democratic Gov. Mike Easley and the Democratic majority in the N.C. General Assembly fretted while Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning wrote the third section of a memorandum of decision in Leandro v. State of North Carolina. Leandro is a 1994 lawsuit that focused on the state’s constitutional duty to provide...
News
Leandro lawsuit, now 25 years old, continues to vex educators
Education stakeholders have long puzzled over how to implement the standards laid out in the decades-old Leandro case. A couple of groups are forming ideas to ensure the state lives up to the standards, but the range of conflicting voices involved may complicate the issue. Plus, any recommendations requiring money would have to get lawmakers’...
News
Agreement on consultant and commission could break Leandro logjam
After two decades, the parties involved in the landmark Leandro v. North Carolina lawsuit have filed a joint court motion asking an independent consultant to help enforce a state Supreme Court order guaranteeing a quality education to every North Carolina student. Alongside that move, Gov. Roy Cooper set up a state commission to make its...
Podcast
Leandro Education Case Gets Another Court Hearing
Terry Stoops updates Leandro education court case; advocates push for juvenile justice reform; Art Pope on lessons learned from textile entrepreneur E.A. Morris; Tommy Harrelson on contributions by artist Art Newton; Rick Henderson on tax refund fraud
