SC Supreme Court denies Gov. Haley’s, lawmakers’ request to rehear school-equity suit

The S.C. Supreme Court has denied a request by Gov. Nikki Haley and state lawmakers to rehear a landmark, two-decades-old school-funding lawsuit.

The court ruled 3-2 in November that the state failed to provide children in poor, rural districts, including Abbeville County, with the adequate public education required by the S.C. Constitution.

In an order issued Friday, the Supreme Court denied a request by Haley and lawmakers to rehear that case.

“We are unable to discover that any material fact or principle of law has been either overlooked or disregarded, and hence, there is no basis for granting a rehearing,” Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote in the order.

In its November opinion, the court ordered lawmakers and the school districts to devise a plan to address the problems the court identified, including weak rural tax bases, aging facilities and the difficulty of recruiting quality teachers to rural areas. The court provided no specific policy recommendations or deadline.

Haley’s attorneys, in a December plea for a rehearing, said the court overlooked recent education initiatives aimed at helping rural districts.

Haley’s petition also said the justices usurped the exclusive authority of the governor and Legislature to make policy and budget decisions for the state’s schools when the court ordered lawmakers to act.

Lawmakers said the court gave them a vague mandate to come up with a plan, but provided no insights into what that plan should include.

“The decision does not come as a surprise,” Carl Epps, a Nelson Mullins attorney representing the plaintiff districts, said Monday. “Everything that could have been raised in a motion to re-argue or rehear has already been raised many times.

“Honestly, I expected the state’s petition to be denied.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2015 at 1:23 PM with the headline "SC Supreme Court denies Gov. Haley’s, lawmakers’ request to rehear school-equity suit ."