By By BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
Staff Writer
The state’s high court on Friday rejected a petition filed by the Beaufort County Board of Education asking the court to reconsider its ruling in the school board’s lawsuit against the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners over school funding.
After a 30-minute, closed-door session with its lawyers via telephone, school board Chairman Robert Belcher announced that the school board voted unanimously to ask for a dismissal of the case and agreed not to seek a retrial.
“We think it would be futile to retry a case over funding from three years ago,” Belcher said in an interview after the meeting.
The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet with its lawyer Oct. 19 and, depending on what action that board takes, it could mean the end of the three-year-long legal battle between the school board and the county.
Commissioner Jerry Langley said he could not speak for the entire Board of Commissioners, but he added, “as far as I am concerned, I am finished with it.”
In July 2006, the school board took the county to court, arguing that the school system’s funding from the county was not adequate to properly run county schools for the 2006-2007 school year. A jury subsequently awarded the school board an additional $756,783 for the year. Superior Court Judge William C. Griffin Jr. ordered the county to pay the school board $412,000 of that jury award while the case made its way through the appeals process.
On Aug. 28, the N.C. Supreme Court reversed a decision by the N.C. Court of Appeals regarding the lawsuit and remanded the case to Beaufort County Superior Court. The court determined that instructions to the jury were flawed in Griffin’s definition of the word “needed” as it relates to appropriations needed to operate a public school system in Beaufort County. Griffin has since retired.
Last week, lawyers for the school board filed a petition asking the high court to reconsider its opinion. In the petition, the school board sought an expanded definition of the word “needed” rather than the restricted definition as defined in the court’s ruling.
“The petition to the Supreme Court was a long shot at best and getting the court to reverse its opinion was a long shot,” Belcher said. “But we went into it with our eyes open.”
Some county leaders recently said that the effort by the school board to continue the court fight was exacerbating he already tenuous relationship between the schools and the county. But on Friday, those commissioners reached by the Daily News for comment applauded the school board’s decision and said they are ready to continue to improve their relationship with the school board.
“That’s to their credit,” said Commissioner Hood Richardson said of the school board’s action asking for the case to be dismissed.
“They’ve finally done the right thing, the best thing for Beaufort County. I will be looking forward to trying to develop a better relationship with the school board,” Richardson said.
Commissioner Robert Cayton said both the Supreme Court’s decision and the school board’s action “are very good things.” The commissioners and the school board “will be able to build a strong relationship that will continue to guarantee a strong public education system for each student and citizen of Beaufort County,” he said.
“To me, I think there is a real willingness to move forward,” Langley said.