You don’t need to know Leandro to know that North Carolina’s schools are underfunded. 

Maybe your child has gone through the public school system. Maybe a friend or neighbor is an educator. Or maybe you’ve just seen some of the eye-popping stats, like that North Carolina ranks 50th in the country in public school funding. Or that we’re 43rd in teacher pay, with the average salary sitting $13,000 below the national average. 

Our educators are doing an incredible job with the resources they have, but they need support. Burnout is high, and turnover rates are growing. In 2024, more than 1,500 special education classrooms were missing a qualified, permanently licensed instructor. Last year, staff and teacher vacancies reached an all-time high. 

It’s not supposed to be this way. In fact, this issue was meant to be addressed nearly three decades ago. 

Leandro v. North Carolina– a court case on school funding that dates all the way back to 1994– sought to ensure that all children have access to a good education. The initial lawsuit was brought forward by families in five underfunded school districts. These families weren’t seeking personal wealth, they were fighting for equity for children and families across North Carolina.  

“They had science labs, but really had no labs,” one parent recalled. “They had the room, but they didn’t have the supplies and the tools. They had math, but they didn’t have enough of math books. They didn’t have enough of social studies books, so it was really hard for me to understand how a student is supposed to be successful when they don’t have the tools that they need.”

Those families won their case in 1997, but unfortunately, little has changed. The initial Leandro ruling was meant to remedy funding issues and ensure that all children have access to a “sound basic education.” But today, those five counties that originally sued in 1994– Hoke, Halifax, Robeson, Vance, and Cumberland– all remain among the lowest funded districts in the state.

NC Republicans have never been fully on board with Leandro, so much so that they sent the case back to the Supreme Court multiple times. The courts repeatedly affirmed their original ruling, including in 2004, 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2022. In fact, in 2022, the NC Supreme Court ordered the legislature to spend over $5 billion in order to fully fund our schools. 

They didn’t provide that funding. Instead, the GOP sued again. It’s been two years since the most recent case has been heard, and the Republican majority on the NC Supreme Court has refused to issue a ruling, meaning that schools, families, and children are still without the funding support they need. 

A lot has changed over the last three decades, but one thing hasn’t– parents are still fighting as hard as they can for our state’s children.

On Wednesday, parents, educators, and advocates joined one another outside the NC Department of Public Instruction to call on the Supreme Court to finally issue a ruling on Leandro and fully fund our schools. It’s the second time in three weeks that these advocates have organized a press conference, doing everything they can to call attention to school funding issues. 

“30 years is far too long to wait. Two more years is even worse to wait,” said one advocate. “Our students should not have to wait another minute for fair access to the sound basic education that every North Carolinian is entitled to.”

Who knows how much longer we’ll need to wait. But we do know that however long it takes, there will always be North Carolinians fighting as hard as they can for our kids. They’ve been doing their part for 30 years. It’s time for the NC Supreme Court to do theirs.