Judge rules in favor of Florida teachers in school reopening lawsuit

Saying the state has “essentially ignored the requirement of school safety” in its requirement that campuses reopen for face-to-face classes in August, Leon County Judge Charles Dodson on Monday ruled in favor of the Florida Education Association’s legal challenge of that action.

In his decision, Dodson also found that the Department of Education’s order, issued July 6, essentially overrode school boards’ constitutional authority to operate their own school systems.

“The districts have no meaningful alternative,” Dodson wrote. “If an individual school district chooses safety, that is, delaying the start of schools until it individually determines it is safe to do so for its county, it risks losing state funding, even though every student is being taught.”

Through questioning during Friday’s closing arguments, Dodson hinted that he was interested in a solution that did not find school districts facing a monetary hit for taking actions that they deemed in the best safety interest of their students and staff.

“An injunction in this case will allow local school boards to make safety determinations for the reopening of schools without financial penalty,” he wrote. “This is what the local school boards were elected to do.”

He ruled that the order would become constitutional if the unconstitutional portions were deleted, as the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued during their closing comments. So he struck out the order language relating to a required date to begin in-person classes, mandatory reopening plans and funding waivers.

The judge used Hillsborough County’s experience as illustrative of the entire scenario. The Hillsborough School Board voted 5-2 to delay reopening its classrooms by four weeks, relying on the advice of several local health experts.

When informed of that move, education commissioner Richard Corcoran deemed the district’s action as violating the reopening order and warned officials they could lose up to $23 million without making changes. After trying to reach a compromise, the district changed direction and announced it would reopen campuses Aug. 31 — three weeks earlier than planned.

Students began their classes online on Monday.

“They had no real choice,” Dodson wrote. “Defendants arbitrarily prioritized reopening schools statewide in August over safety and the advice of health experts; and all school districts complied in order to avoid a drastic loss of State funding.”

Board member Tamara Shamburger, who testified for the plaintiffs, said she was excited about the ruling and pleased the judge recognized the importance of local decision making in these matters. She anticipated the board, which meets Tuesday, will revisit the situation.

“Our vote is still our vote, which is to delay the first four weeks,” Shamburger said, noting no action had been taken to overturn that decision. “I absolutely believe that ... we must have this conversation.”

The Pinellas County School Board, which opened both in-person and remote classes on Monday, also meets on Tuesday, where it, too, could discuss the ruling and its role in reopening.

Board chairwoman Carol Cook said she was thrilled the judge ruled in favor of local control of schools. But she had her doubts about changing direction on the school year.

“So far, I’m hearing that things went well” (on the first day), Cook said. “I would have to really give it some serious thought whether we want to throw everybody back into disarray.”

Ron Meyer, one of the union’s attorneys, said that the judge’s order would allow districts to delay reopening buildings without financial penalty, if local officials decided to do so based on the advice of health experts. It still could be a dicey move, though, he noted.

That’s because the state is expected to appeal, which would lead to an automatic stay of the ruling. The plaintiffs would then be likely to seek an order overturning the automatic stay. If the stay remains in effect, it’s as if the judge’s order does not exist.

If the stay is removed, then the order stands.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 2:52 PM.