Governor wisely defends taxpayers

Whether it's a show of political brass or an informed legal position, Gov. Brian Schweitzer has decided the buck has to stop somewhere when it comes to school funding litigation.

Good for him.

The governor flatly stated last week that the additional funding and other measures provided to schools last year should put an end to "quality" education litigation.

"The lawsuit did go away," he told the Inter Lake editorial board. "We have a legally defensible case if they were to take us back to court. I am confident we have addressed the relevant factors in the plaintiffs' claims."

Schweitzer apparently isn't putting up a political bluff. He insists that his legal advisers believe "relevant factors" in the case have been addressed.

The plaintiffs - the Montana Quality Schools Coalition - predictably didn't go along with the governor's conclusions. That's why Schweitzer's bluntness was somewhat surprising.

Before, during and after the December special legislative session, coalition members said they viewed the measures proposed by the governor as a temporary fix that did not address the main issues in the lawsuit. They counted on holding the litigation hammer over lawmakers during the 2007 legislative session, just as they did last year.

But Schweitzer doesn't want this issue dragging on, and he's betting that most Montanans feel the same way he does.

"The bottom line, that I tried to address to them, is that they are losing a public relations battle," the governor said, explaining his remarks in a face-to-face meeting with coalition members on Monday. "The folks across Montana have had it with taxpayers suing taxpayers and taxpayers picking up the bill on both sides."

That's a politically astute observation that cuts through the dust cloud raised by the litigation, the committee meetings, the legislative hassling over the last two years. That's what it boils down to: one arm of government suing another arm of government for money, and taxpayers paying for it all.

Taxpayers are also aware that the supposed premise of the case is to improve educational quality to a level required by the state Constitution. But folks are also aware that this has been a battle over quality only in the sense that more funding supposedly improves the quality of education. We - and many others - have long held that more funding should be tied to reforms and measures of accountability to demonstrate improved quality.

And hopefully that's how this issue will evolve. Even if the lawsuit has been addressed, there will certainly be a constant push for more funding in K-12 education, and Schweitzer says more funding will be provided as long as state government "lives within its means."

If the coalition insists on going beyond that, then they will have a fight on their hands, not just with the governor, but with the taxpayers who are footing the bill.