Sunday, October 07, 2007

Justice William Connolly again hands a victory to bigger government units over smaller ones. This time he allows the reorganized Lyons-Decatur School District to bait and switch Decatur residents into believing they would have a say in whether the school district would keep their local school open. Citizens for Equal Education v. Lyons-Decatur Sch. Dist., S-06-159, 274 Neb. 278. Justice Connolly just cant help himself from finding "absurd results" from the plain meaning of statutes. This time he finds that an agreement between the residents of Decatur and Lyons when they merged their school districts in 1984 that the Decatur school would not close unless a majority of the Decatur voters approved did not mean that because that would be an "absurd" result. Section 79-419 said just that, but that would get in the way of consolidating small town schools into large ones that would support lots of extra staff. We really should be grateful for Justice Connolly for doing the Legislature's job. After all his Supreme Court justice's salary takes care of a baker's dozen of unicameral members.

3 comments:

ptg said...

Three cheers for centralized government. Anything else would be absurd. All the Supremes need to do now is issue a judicial 5-year plan.

Anonymous said...

The problem is the Legislature, not the Supremes. The Supremes refuse to interfere in the Legislature's scheme for school funding. By doing so, the Supremes allow the Legislature to bankrupt these small schools. Isn't that what you claim to want?

JRL www.knudsenlaw.com

ptg said...

Sorry, Jeanelle, but my tongue got stuck in my cheek.