Colorado Supreme Court Fails to Provide Remedy for Underserved Students in Landmark School Finance Case

ELL and low-income students will remain hostage to an arbitrary and irrational funding system for Colorado schools

DENVER, CO — Today, in a 4-2 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed a Denver District Court’s opinion in Lobato/Ortega v. Colorado that Colorado’s public school finance system is “irrational, arbitrary, and severely underfunded.” The Supreme Court held that the state’s arbitrary school finance system complies with the Colorado constitution, concluding that the system is “thorough and uniform” across the state and provides for local control over instruction in schools. Importantly, while the Court held that the system passed minimal constitutional muster, the Court acknowledged that the trial court’s findings “demonstrate that the current public school financing system might not be ideal policy.”

MALDEF President and General Counsel, Thomas A. Saenz, stated, “It has been 40 years since the United States Supreme Court rendered its deplorable decision in San Antonio ISD v. Rodriguez, concluding that education is not a fundamental right under our federal Constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court's timorous decision today, abandoning the state to a dim future of inadequately educated citizenry, encapsulates the folly in failing to ensure, at a national level, an equitable and quality education for all. The public in Colorado can and should demand better of its public servants.”

The Lobato plaintiffs originally filed the lawsuit in Denver District Court in 2005 on behalf of parents and school districts, arguing that the State of Colorado had failed to adequately fund their education. MALDEF’s intervention in February 2010 focused on the inadequate funding for at-risk students and ELL students. MALDEF also sought a declaration that funding for facilities in property-poor school districts is insufficient and that such communities have been stripped of local control over their educational programs.

In a scathing dissent, Colorado Chief Justice Bender said “the record reveals an education system that is fundamentally broken;” and that the “General Assembly has failed to recognize” the “dramatic increases in the number of Hispanic students, low-income students, and English Language Learners, and students with special needs.” Justice Hobbs joined him in dissent.

“The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision is a devastating setback for Colorado schoolchildren, especially for its at-risk students who are struggling miserably,” stated MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel David Hinojosa, lead counsel for Intervenor parents and at-risk children in the case. “The Court missed its opportunity to hold the State accountable by setting the bar so low that a one-room schoolhouse is somehow good enough in today’s world. But the people of Colorado still ultimately retain the power to provide equal educational opportunities for all and we encourage Coloradoans to do so through honest and effective legislation.”

Additional counsel included MALDEF staff attorney, Marisa Bono. Local counsel included Henry Solano from Dewey LeBoeuf LLP, and Steven Perfrement from Holme, Roberts & Owen LLP.


Major MALDEF Victory in Landmark Colorado School Finance Case

Court finds the State's current system unconstitutional and requires funding to be based on actual costs of providing a thorough and uniform system of public education

DENVER, CO — On Friday, a state district court in Denver, Colorado ruled in favor of plaintiffs in the State’s first adequacy case, Lobato v. Colorado, a lawsuit in which MALDEF represented Colorado parents as plaintiff-intervenors seeking adequate funding for at-risk and English Language Learner (“ELL”) students in the Colorado school finance system.

In a 189-page, scathing decision following a five-week trial in August of 2011, the court held that “the Colorado public school finance system is not rationally related to the mandate to establish and maintain a thorough and uniform system of free public schools. On the contrary, the public school finance system is irrational, arbitrary, and severely underfunded.”

With this ruling, the court enjoined the current finance system and requires the General Assembly to adopt a system that “fulfills the qualitative mandate of the Education Clause and the rights guaranteed to the Plaintiffs thereunder and that is in full compliance with the requirements of the Local Control Clause.” The injunction is stayed until the end of the 2012 legislative session.

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated, “Latino students in Colorado and nationwide are essential to our nation's future continued success and prosperity. The court's decision is one critical step toward ensuring that we invest adequately and fairly in our national future by ensuring that all public school students receive the right educational tools to contribute to their full potential.”

David Hinojosa, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel and lead counsel for plaintiff-intervenors in the case, added, “The court's courageous decision is the first step in fixing a broken educational system that disproportionately harms at-risk and ELL students. We hope the General Assembly will see this as a wake-up call and live up to its responsibility under the Colorado Constitution by fully and fairly funding educational opportunity for all school children, including Colorado’s most vulnerable.”

The Lobato plaintiffs originally filed the lawsuit in Denver District Court in 2005 on behalf of parents and school districts, arguing that the State of Colorado had failed to adequately fund their education. MALDEF's intervention in February 2010 focused on the inadequate funding for at-risk students and ELL students. MALDEF also sought a declaration that funding for facilities in property-poor school districts is insufficient and that such communities have been stripped of local control over their educational programs.

In its ruling, the court stated, “there is not enough money in the system to permit school districts across the State to properly implement standards-based education and to meet the requirements of state law and regulation. This is true for districts of every description – rural, suburban, urban and those with small or large student populations. There is not one school district that is sufficiently funded. This is an obvious hallmark of an irrational system.”

The court went on to state that “The problem has been compounded by the fact that during this same time Colorado and virtually every school district have experienced significant demographic changes, particularly in the number and concentrations of English language learners, ethnic minorities, and children of poverty.”

Among the courts findings relative to the plaintiff-intervenor claims, the court agreed with MALDEF that the two-year limitation for state ELL funding is arbitrary and irrational and that the total ELL funding is insufficient. The court also agreed that the amount of funding for at-risk students is inadequate and the failure to include students on the reduced-priced lunch program for at-risk funding is arbitrary. Further, the court agreed that preschool and full-day kindergarten programs benefit especially at-risk and ELL students and the State’s failure to fully fund quality programs is irrational. The court further held that many low wealth school districts in the state were not adequately funded to meet their school facility needs.

MALDEF counsel included staff attorneys Marisa Bono and Rebecca Couto. Local counsel included Henry Solano from Dewey LeBoeuf LLP and Steven Perfrement from Holme, Roberts & Owen LLP.


School Funding Trial Against State of Colorado Begins Monday, August 1

Funding for at-risk students is inadequate and irrational

DENVER, CO — Today, MALDEF held a press conference in front of the Colorado Department of Education to announce the beginning of the trial in Lobato v. Colorado. The trial begins on Monday, August 1, 2011, eighteen months after MALDEF filed legal papers on behalf of low income families.

“The future is bleak for Colorado. Children's learning is being strangled by a funding system that is irrational and unresponsive to the increasing reforms imposed by the State,” stated MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel David Hinojosa. “We are left with a system that forces districts to choose between serving the needs of Peter and Pablo and not only does Colorado deserve better, but the Constitutuion so commands.”

The families seek a ruling that Colorado's inadequate school funding for at-risk income and English Language Learner students violates their rights under the Colorado Constitution. The parents and children represent different regions of the state, including Mapleton, Sheridan, Rocky Ford and Greeley.

“I want for my children and all children a great education so that they can reach their dreams and full potential,” said Maribel Payan, plaintiff-intervenor parent whose children attend Sheridan Schools. “They are held to the same standards and compete with all other children and the quality of their education should not be lesser just because of where they live and go to school.”

The Lobato lawsuit was originally filed in Denver County District Court in 2005 by parents and school districts arguing that the State of Colorado had failed to adequately fund their education. MALDEF’s intervention in February 2010 focused on the irrational and inadequate funding for at-risk students and English Language Learner students. MALDEF also seeks a declaration that funding for facilities in property-poor school districts is insufficient and that communities have been stripped of local control. This is the first statewide school adequacy lawsuit to be tried in Colorado. MALDEF is joined in the lawsuit by Henry L. Solano of Dewey and LeBoeuf LLP; and Steven Perfrement of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP.


School Funding Trial Begins Against State of Colorado

MALDEF seeks equality for at-risk and English Language Learner Students

DENVER, CO — On Friday, July 29, 2011, MALDEF will hold a press conference in front of the Colorado Department of Education to announce that the trial in Lobato v. Colorado will begin on Monday, August 1, 2011, one year and a half after MALDEF filed legal papers in the lawsuit.

The Lobato lawsuit was originally filed in Denver County District Court in 2005 by parents and school districts arguing that the State of Colorado had failed to adequately fund their education. MALDEF intervened in February 2010, focusing on the irrational and inadequate funding for at-risk students and English Language Learner students. MALDEF also seeks a declaration that funding for facilities in property-poor school districts is insufficient and that communities have been stripped of local control. This is the first statewide school adequacy lawsuit to be tried in Colorado.

WHAT:
Press Conference on Lobato v. Colorado

WHO:
David Hinojosa, Southwest Regional Counsel, MALDEF
Marisa Bono, Staff Attorney, MALDEF
Kathy Gebhardt, Co-Founder and Attorney, Children's Voices, Inc., Attorney for Lobato Plaintiffs

WHEN:
Friday, July 29, 2011 10:30AM MDT

WHERE:
Colorado Department of Education
201 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80203