By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
Dozens of educators, parents, and community members gathered outside the North Carolina General Assembly Wednesday morning to rally in the wake of the state Supreme Court's April 2nd decision to dismiss the Leandro case, a 32-year-old lawsuit that had become the centerpiece of efforts to overhaul public school funding in North Carolina.
The 4-3 ruling, split along partisan lines, vacated a court-approved plan that would have directed more than $5 billion toward teacher pay, special education, school counselors, social workers, and nurses. With that plan now gone, advocates say the consequences will be felt most acutely in the districts that were already struggling.
"When our schools struggle, our communities feel it," said Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.
The court's majority opinion vacated all actions taken in the Leandro case since 2017, ruling that a lower court had overstepped its jurisdiction by expanding what began as a county-level education adequacy dispute into a statewide matter. The ruling also reversed a 2022 decision that had allowed judges to direct state officials to transfer funds directly—effectively handing control of education spending back to the General Assembly.
For advocates, the most important legal point is what the ruling did not do: the 1997 precedent affirming that North Carolina's constitution guarantees every child a "sound basic education" remains intact.
"Nothing in this ruling has changed the words of our constitution," said Shray Shetty, an attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center.
But the practical weight of the decision falls squarely on lawmakers. Advocates said Wednesday they are still assessing their options; whether through new litigation, legislative lobbying, or broader public organizing.
"This is a time to build a stronger movement, to build power, to put even more pressure on our state legislators, state leaders, our governor and our state superintendent of public schools,” said Jenice Ramirez, Co-Executive Director of Education Justice Alliance.
The educators at Wednesday's rally described classrooms strained well beyond what any court ruling could fix quickly. High teacher turnover, inadequate staffing, and students with unmet needs were recurring themes.
Jackie McLean, a dropout prevention specialist in Hoke County Schools and one of the original Leandro plaintiffs, spoke at the rally, describing the day-to-day reality in her district with striking specificity.
"We have one social worker for more than 2,000 students," she said. "We are really heartbroken, but we will not let up."
The timing of the court ruling has landed in the middle of an already fraught political environment: North Carolina lawmakers have not passed a budget for the current fiscal year.
The House and Senate remain at odds over education spending levels. The House has proposed an 8.7% teacher pay raise and a starting salary floor of $50,000, which spokeswoman Demi Dowdy said "would bring North Carolina to #1 in the Southeast." The Senate has taken a more modest approach, noting that interim funding agreements have been reached for schools in the absence of a full budget.
Critics point out that state spending on education has not kept pace with growing needs, and that the expansion of Opportunity Scholarship vouchers has drawn resources away from the public system. Meanwhile, school districts across the state are already cutting budgets for next year, driven by enrollment declines, rising operational costs, and stagnant revenue.
With the legal path forward uncertain, the focus among those who backed the Leandro plan has shifted, at least in the near term, to the legislature.
That pressure was on full display outside the Legislative Building, where Yevonne Brannon, chair of Public Schools First NC, delivered a direct message to lawmakers:
"The Supreme Court let us down. But don't let our legislators forget that we're counting on them to fund our public schools… Make sure everybody in this building knows that they are the ones we're holding responsible for funding our public schools."
