Education Funding

Opposing Viewpoints

By Andrew Trotter — February 14, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A South Carolina school district that used newsletters, e-mail, and its Web site to drum up opposition to a tuition-tax-credit bill in the state legislature faces a lawsuit claiming it committed “viewpoint discrimination” against a resident who was denied the use of the same outlets to air his views.

In papers filed Jan. 24 in federal district court in Columbia, S.C., Randall S. Page says District One in Lexington County rejected his requests to use what he calls its “information-distribution system” to support a tax-credit bill that the legislature considered last year.

Mr. Page, a resident of the 19,000-student district, is the president of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a watchdog group that supported the bill, which ultimately failed.

He argues that the publicly funded communication methods constitute a “limited public forum,” and notes that the district allowed other opponents of the bill, who were not district employees, the use of that forum for their views.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the district unconstitutionally deprived him of his First Amendment right to free speech.

“I don’t think they’ve created any sort of a forum, and therefore they are not engaged in viewpoint-based discrimination,” David T. Duff, the Columbia-based lawyer for the Lexington One district, said of his client last week. He planned to file a reply to the lawsuit this week.

Mr. Duff said that if the lawsuit succeeded, the effect might be to scuttle advocacy by school districts, “at least not without giving opposing views equal time, which to me as a practical matter is rather difficult to conceive.”

A district taking a position on legislation to educate children with disabilities, for example, might have to open up communications tools to parents with opposing views, he said.

Paul Krohne, the executive director of the South Carolina School Boards Association, which opposes tuition tax credits, called the lawsuit “just a harassment tactic” by a political opponent.

But Charles C. Haynes, a legal expert at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., said there may be grounds for the lawsuit. “For First Amendment purposes, a school district—when it does open up its [facilities] to express a view of a public-policy issue—they have in fact a responsibility, if not an obligation, to allow other people to use it.”

Related Tags:

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Interactive See How Much School Funding Trump Is Holding Back From Your State
The administration is holding back nearly $7 billion for English learners, after-school programs, professional development, and more.
1 min read
Image of money symbol made of sand filtering slowly through an hour glass.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding Education Department Restores COVID Funds For Schools—With Some Caveats
All state education agencies and school districts now have until March 2026 to finish spending COVID aid.
4 min read
Image of funding stream faucets and a hand controlling the flow.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding Trump May Soon Defy Congress and Cut $5 Billion More From Schools
Funding for migrant education, English-learner services, professional development, and after-school programming is at risk.
10 min read
Image of a slow-drip funding stream coming from a faucet.
gheatza/iStock/Getty
Education Funding 5 Ways Schools Are Directly Feeling the Federal Funding Chaos
Canceled grants, terminated contracts, and proposed cuts are sparking worries as districts plan future budgets.
6 min read
Image of money assembling block by block.
iStock/Getty