CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Activists are fighting for more equitable education funding in North Carolina, with groups telling a judge how to incentivize lawmakers to change laws and spend more on schools.
The North Carolina Superior Court has ordered the state to change how it funds schools and to spend billions more doing so. It's part of the 1994 lawsuit known as the Leandro case, which results in courts finding that the state wasn't giving counties the money necessary to provide a "sound basic education" to students.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to the Defenders team by emailing money@wcnc.com.
In that case, five districts in low-wealth counties filed suit saying their schools didn't have enough money to provide an education to children despite the fact that they taxed their residents higher than average. Those counties — Hoke, Halifax, Robeson, Vance and Cumberland — still remain toward the bottom of the state's rankings in terms of supporting schools on a per-student basis, according to the Public School Forum of North Carolina.
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