NC Supreme Court throws out multi-billion dollar plan in long-running Leandro lawsuit

NC Supreme Court throws out multi-billion dollar plan in long-running Leandro lawsuit | WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC) 

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the multi-billion dollar plan to improve North Carolina’s public schools in the long-running lawsuit known as Leandro.

The 111-page ruling invalidates most of the last decade’s worth of work in the case. In particular, it vacates the 2022 state Supreme Court decision that authorized the funding of the plan in a method that bypassed the state General Assembly, prompting challenges from legislative leaders and the state’s controller. [Read More] 

Read the ruling [PDF] 

Macon Media Summary

The Leandro case is a long-running North Carolina lawsuit (started in 1994) that says the state constitution requires every child to receive a “sound basic education.” This includes enough qualified teachers and principals, proper classroom resources, and extra support for students who need it—especially in lower-wealth or rural areas like many parts of western North Carolina.

Over the years, courts developed a comprehensive plan to fix these problems. It called for billions of extra state dollars statewide for higher teacher pay, more counselors and support staff, better services for students with disabilities, and other improvements to help public schools.

Earlier court orders (including a 2022 Supreme Court decision) had said the state must fund this plan, even if the legislature didn’t want to spend that much. This would have sent additional money to school districts across North Carolina, including Macon County Schools.

What the April 2026 Ruling Changes

On April 2, 2026, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to largely reject that multi-billion-dollar court-ordered plan and the requirements forcing the state to pay for it.

For residents of Macon County, this means:

• The big, guaranteed increases in state funding that Macon County Schools were counting on (or hoping for) under the Leandro plan are no longer required.
• Local schools will not automatically receive the extra money that could have gone toward raising teacher salaries, adding support staff like counselors or nurses, improving special education services, or other upgrades.
• Funding for Macon County public schools will now go back to the usual process: the North Carolina General Assembly decides how much money to send to schools through the regular state budget. Local county commissioners also play a role in supplementing that with local funds.

In short: Macon County Schools won’t get the forced statewide Leandro money boosts that some districts had been planning around. Any improvements will depend on what state lawmakers in Raleigh choose to fund in future budgets, plus decisions made by the Macon County Board of Commissioners.

Why This Matters for Local Education in Macon County

Macon County is a rural county in the mountains of western North Carolina. Rural districts like our face extra challenges, such as:

• attracting and keeping qualified teachers (especially in subjects like math, science, or special education)
• serving students who may need more support due to poverty, transportation issues, or other local factors
• operating with tighter budgets compared to larger urban districts

Because of this, the Leandro plan would have directed relatively more help to areas like Macon County. With the court order mostly thrown out, those specific extra resources are off the table for now.

The core idea from older Leandro rulings—that every child in North Carolina, including those in Macon County, has a right to a sound basic education—still stands. However, without the detailed, expensive fix being enforced by the courts, progress on school improvements will rely more on politics-as-usual in the state legislature and your local county government.

Education groups are disappointed by the ruling, while leaders who argued the courts shouldn’t override the legislature are pleased. For families and educators in Macon County, this likely means continued budget pressures and no big new influx of state money in the short term. Future improvements will depend on what the legislature and county commissioners decide to prioritize.