Court Opinion

ID: 9700740
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:47:40.128969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:14.234112
License: Public Domain

Lanphier, J.,
dissenting.
I join in the dissent of Justice White. However, when considering a demurrer, the petition is to be liberally construed. Schoneweis v. Dando, 231 Neb. 180, 435 N.W.2d 666 (1989). With that in mind, I believe the petition need not be amended because it includes sufficient facts which, if proved, evidence the claimed constitutional inadequacy of the education at issue. Although the plaintiffs’ main focus is on the economic disparities among school districts, the effects such disparities have on the quality of the education are stated. The plaintiffs cite the lower wages paid to teachers in the poorer districts; the access to fewer resources such as libraries, updated workbooks, and counselors; and the unavailability of advanced courses in math, science, and foreign languages for students in poorer districts. These allegations alone would show the inadequacy of the education received by students within poorer districts which result from the alleged economic disparities. However, the plaintiffs go further and allege in their petition:
Because of the lower quality of education available to them, students who graduate from high schools in poorer districts are more likely to be required to take remedial courses before entering the general college level curriculum. This requirement stigmatizes them as being poorly prepared students and, at best, retards their progress toward admission and graduation from professional schools, such as law or medicine. At worst, remedial courses will come too late, and the students’ educational deficiencies will forever block their admission to professional schools, or even their graduation from college. Those students from poorer districts who are not *172subjected to remedial education at the college level are, nevertheless, handicapped in their ability to compete at the college level with students who have had the appropriate courses in many subject areas at the high school level.
The rule governing review of demurrers requires us to accept these allegations as true. See, LaPan v. Myers, 241 Neb. 790, 491 N.W.2d 46 (1992); Hebard v. AT&T, 228 Neb. 15, 421 N.W.2d 10 (1988); Ames v. Hehner, 231 Neb. 152, 435 N.W.2d 869 (1989); S.I.D. No. 272 v. Marquardt, 233 Neb. 39, 443 N.W.2d 877 (1989); Moore v. Grammer, 232 Neb. 795, 442 N.W.2d 861 (1989). See, also, Hamilton v. City of Omaha, 243 Neb. 253, 498 N.W.2d 555 (1993); Fulk v. McLellan, 243 Neb. 143, 498 N.W.2d 90 (1993). Accepted as true, these allegations evidence the inadequacy of education resulting from the disparity in funding of the school districts.