School Board of Miami-Dade County v. King, Nos. 05-4521/05-4524/05-2526 (Fla. App. Oct. 31, 2006)

A Florida appeals court has rejected a suit by five local districts challenging the legislature’s state aid formula on state constitutional grounds. The Florida legislature changed the state aid formula causing a number of school districts to receive less funding. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of all counts without further comment, except count III. In count III, the plaintiffs argued that the new formula violated the Florida Constitution because "it results in the arbitrary, capricious, non-uniform and discriminatory distribution of education funds" and denies "thousands of public school students…the uniform, safe and high quality education to which they are guaranteed." Specifically, the appellate court disagreed with the trial court’s reliance on Simon v. Celebration Co., 883 So.2d 826 (Fla. App. 2004) and holding that no private cause of action exists under Article IX, section 1 of the Florida Constitution. Rather, the appellate court concluded that count III should be dismissed because it did not state a cause of action under the Constitution. The appellate court found the trial court’s reliance on Simon misplaced in light of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Holmes, 919 So.2d 392 (Fla. 2006). Holmes held the state’s school voucher program was unconstitutional because it violated the requirement of Article IX, section 1, that education be provided through "a uniform system of free public schools." As a result, the appellate court read Holmes "as delineating that any citizen/taxpayer may bring a declaratory action to challenge the constitutionality of provisions in a general appropriations act, including a claim that the state has failed to make adequate provision for a uniform system of free public schools as required by Article IX, section 1, and that the standard for determining whether the legislature has made adequate provision for public schools is whether the resources allocated by the legislature are sufficient to provide ‘a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education,’ as required by the Florida Constitution." According to the appellate court, the allegations in count III did not state such a cause of action, but rather merely challenged the method of distribution of state education funds. The appellate court concluded that the holding in Simon was limited to precluding a private right of action under Article IX, section 1 "against individual school boards.

[Editor’s Note: According to the news report below, the school districts have not made a decision whether they will appeal the ruling. Miami-Dade County Associate School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says Miami-Dade has lost $88 million over three years under the new formula, which is designed to compensate for differences among counties in wage costs.]