The most galling Republican argument yet on NC education spending

It’s not exactly breaking news that North Carolina Republicans love the Constitution until it doesn’t love them back. For years, they’ve ignored what their state’s governing document tells them about providing a sound education for children, and when judges have reminded them of that obligation, they’ve ignored the judges, too.

On Wednesday, state Superior Court Judge David Lee decided he was done trying to persuade lawmakers that they have a constitutional duty to all students. Instead, he mandated a may adopt a plan that mandates $1.7 billion in education spending. In anticipation, Republicans have been trotting out the same, tired tropes about activist judges overreaching their authority. This time, they’ve added some galling logic: a judge shouldn’t order lawmakers to spend specific amounts funding education, even if those lawmakers are ignoring a general court order to fund education.

Incredibly, that wasn’t their most ridiculous argument in the run-up to Wednesday’s hearing.

In an email sent via the Senate Republicans press office, Republican Sen. Deanna Ballard of Watauga mocked the notion that a judge could mandate a precise spending plan for lawmakers who refuse to develop any plan.

Said Ballard: “And how much money did the Constitution formally appropriate in 1868? Did the Constitution, in 1868, appropriate $10 billion in education funding for 2021? $15 billion? $30 billion?”

Yes, really.

The N.C. Constitution didn’t appropriate any dollar figure for education, of course, because the crafters of the constitution didn’t get tangled in precise funding levels. Putting dollar figures in a foundational document could lead to problems down the road when dollars have different values. Plus, doing so should have been unnecessary. If the constitution issues a mandate — as it did with education — its authors expected it to be followed. Several courts have affirmed that expectation.

We’d guess that Ballard and N.C. Republicans know this. They apparently think their constituents won’t grasp how the constitution works, however. That’s insulting, and it’s part of a cutely deceptive strategy to avoid a fundamental truth: Republicans don’t want to do what our state’s highest legal document — and several courts — have ordered them to do.

This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 9:05 AM.