Advertisement

Lawyer suggests oral arguments to clarify mountains of paper in Florida education funding equity case

The case has been collecting documents since 2009.
 
Published July 31, 2018

Citizens for Strong Schools vs. Florida State Board of Education — also known as the state's long running education funding lawsuit — has heated up in recent days.

Lawyers for all sorts of potential "friends" of the court have made motions to join the fray. Motions and answers and briefings have flowed into the Florida Supreme Court docket, along with transcripts and appendices, as the sides seek to make their case.

Over nine years, with two lower court rulings, it's enough information to make one's head spin.

How much?

Plaintiff's lawyer Jodi Siegel stated in one motion that there's 3,867 pages of record on appeal, along with 5,371 trial exhibits and 5,496 pages of trial transcript.

All to get the Supremes to decide whether the case belongs before a judge, as the plaintiffs contend, or couldn't possibly be ruled on because of the "subjective" constitutional language the case is built on, as the defendants argue.

With so much potentially at stake, and so much to read, Siegel made a motion Tuesday asking for oral arguments before the court.

"Petitioners submit that oral argument will assist the Court in understanding the immense record," she wrote in the two line motion.

Of course there's been no answer yet. But expect high interest in the decision, as the 2009 case could lead to a shift in Florida education policy. Or to no change at all.

Related coverage: Parents ask Florida Supreme Court to send school funding suit back to trial court