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Brigham v. State9/12/2005
tingham and Wilmington school districts, approved in 2003, moots plaintiffs' claims because it will improve the taxpayers' allegedly high tax burden and the students' allegedly poor curriculum choices.
5. After the State filed its motion to dismiss, plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint pursuant to Rule 15(a). They sought amendment to update the statutory sections in their complaint that referred to Act 60, so that their complaint would also refer to the pertinent statutory sections of Act 68. Plaintiffs did not seek to alter their legal argument on the constitutionality of the education-funding system; they explained that Act 68 did not remedy the defects of Act 60 identified in their original complaint. Rather, they moved to amend the references to Act 60 contained in their complaint.
6. The superior court ruled concurrently on the State's motion to dismiss and the plaintiffs' motion to amend. The court granted the motion to dismiss and thus denied plaintiffs' motion to amend as moot. Without basing its decision on one identifiable legal theory, the court relied on a general notion of judicial restraint to reach the conclusion that the court should not hear the case. The court interpreted our decision in Brigham I as requiring the courts to let the Legislature remedy Vermont's education-funding system's deficiencies without judicial interference. Explaining that the issue is not non-justiciable per se, the court stated:
As Brigham exemplifies, the constitutionality of school funding is not non-justiciable in an absolute sense. But the modes of judicial self-restraint have more prudential texture than that of the classic political question doctrine alone. Mootness and ripeness issues aside, the continuation of this case would not only be disrespectful of the political process underway, it could harm the political process by delaying it or distracting attention and resources more productively focused on it, or derailing it with unnecessary mandates or, worse, the unnecessary perception of mandates. The Legislature has not responded to Brigham by refusing to act, or by acting half-heartedly; the Legislature plainly heard Brigham's beacon and is now finding its way. Rather than enforcing Brigham, this litigation runs counter to it. (citation omitted).
7. Plaintiffs contend on appeal that the superior court erred in granting the State's motion to dismiss. They argue that it is the role of the judiciary to determine whether the state-education-funding system violates their constitutional rights.
8. The issue in this case is whether the superior court erred in granting the state's motion to dismiss on grounds of judicial restraint. Our decision in Brigham I recognizes that the court has a duty to hear plaintiffs' claims on the alleged constitutional deficiencies of the education-funding system. Therefore, because plaintiffs have pleaded facts sufficient to satisfy the liberal Rule 12(b)(6) standard, the plaintiffs' claims must be allowed to go forward. We emphasize that although plaintiffs may not ultimately prove the alleged violations once a full record is developed, a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is not the proper procedure for testing the factual support for plaintiffs' claims. We reverse and remand for further proceedings, including a ruling on plaintiffs' motion to amend their complaint.
9. Rather than conducting an analysis on whether plaintiffs met the requirements of Rule 12(b)(6), the superior court improperly relied on the notion of judicial restraint in dismissing the complaint. The doctrine of judicial self-restraint derives from Article III of the United States Constitution, which states that federal courts have jurisdiction on
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