News

Class action status denied in school funding suit

by Leslie Turk

Decision means any of the state's 69 local school boards that don't seek to become plaintiffs in the lawsuit could risk losing out on millions of dollars if the lawsuit is successful.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Baton Rouge judge refused to give class action status to a lawsuit claiming the state's public school funding formulas were not properly approved by lawmakers for three years.

The decision means any of the state's 69 local school boards that don't seek to become plaintiffs in the lawsuit could risk losing out on millions of dollars if the lawsuit is successful.

Judge Michael Caldwell said Monday that he has problems forcing a political body, like a school board, to be part of a lawsuit if those elected officials don't want to be included. He also said he doesn't think the legal requirements for class action status were met.

The lawsuit was filed by the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board and the Louisiana Association of Educators.