Petrella v. Brownback

Kansas developed a school financing scheme that sought to avoid “mak[ing] the quality of a child’s education a function of his or her parent’s or neighbors’ wealth.” Displeased with the outcome of school finance litigation in state court, plaintiffs, parents of students in the relatively wealthy Shawnee Mission School District (“SMSD”), sought federal intervention to upend decades of effort toward establishing an equitable school finance system in Kansas. Adopting a "kitchen-sink approach," they claimed that aspects of the state’s school financing regime violated their rights to free speech, to petition the government, to associate, to vote, to education, to equal protection of the laws, to direct the upbringing of their children, and to dispose of their property. Upon review of plaintiffs' "novel and expansive claims," the Tenth Circuit found no support and affirmed the district court’s orders denying plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, granting in part defendants’ motions to dismiss, and denying reconsideration. View "Petrella v. Brownback" on Justia Law