Hoke County Board of Education v. State of North Carolina
In November 2022, the Court held that when the state fails to provide students the opportunity to attain basic education, the court is empowered to require the state to apply funds to meet its obligations. After two new justices joined the Court, the Court paused the transfer of funds while it considered new arguments that the state’s controller lacks legal authority to transfer funds as the Court had directed.
After a district court judge found in 2023 that additional required education funding for two years would cost nearly $700 million, two legislators, who had intervened in the case, asked the state supreme court to address whether the judge had subject matter jurisdiction to make that order, and whether he had subject matter jurisdiction to issue statewide relief.
On April 2, The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned its own precedent and put an end to more than 30 years of litigation involving the funding of public education in the state
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