Surprise – Quality Education Isn’t Constitutionally Guaranteed

– At least in South Dakota

Judge Lori Wilbur is raising lots of eyebrows up in South Dakota with her recent ruling concerning a school funding gambit much like the 1989 lawsuit that brought KERA to Kentucky.

In South Dakota, it looks like at least one judge understands the restrictions on what the judiciary can, and cannot tell the legislature to do with tax dollars. It’s a separation of powers issue – one that probably got violated here in Kentucky in 1989.

Judge Wilbur also understands the conflict of interest when public school superintendents use taxpayer money to sue the taxpayers’ representatives in state courts. South Dakotans are incensed by the million dollar waste this has caused to date.

The article is an interesting “read,” made more so by the fact that South Dakota’s education system already outperforms most other states, yet still wants more money.