SUPCO hears oral arguments in Cabell school levy funding case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A ruling from the state Supreme Court will come in the next few months regarding a case involving the Cabell County Board of Education’s excess levy fund.

The levy has provided funding to the Cabell County Public Library since 1967 and the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District since 1983.

Last August, the school board voted to strip the funding. The park district then filed a lawsuit against the school board. In November, a Cabell County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of parks and libraries which resulted in the BOE appealing that decision the state Supreme Court.

The high court heard oral arguments in Charleston Tuesday.

Cabell County BOE Attorney Kenneth Webb Jr. told the justices Cabell and Lincoln are the only two counties that still levy funds for other entities.

“Under equal protection that scheme, those special acts are unconstitutional,” Webb said in front of a packed courtroom.

The park district typically receives approximately $500,000 from the excess levy each year while libraries receive about $1.5 million.

Voters were set to decide whether to approve the five-year levy in the May 2024 election.

Cabell County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe previously told MetroNews the cuts are necessary due to financial pressure caused by inflation, a lack of additional funding from the COVID pandemic and low student enrollment.

“While we very much value and appreciate what it is that our beautiful parks and wonderful libraries provide to the community, doing so at the expense of the school district’s budget is something that we have to be able to prioritize our students and our classrooms first,” Saxe said in Aug. 2023.

The school board also wants to use levy funding to focus on beefing up security, Saxe said.

Breana Bowen, executive director of Cabell County Public Library, told MetroNews after the BOE’s vote in August she feared some library branches would close due to lack of funding. GHPRD Executive Director Kathy McKenna also said parks and libraries provide just as much value to communities as schools do.

Marc Williams, attorney for parks and libraries, told the justices they’ve received this funding for years for a reason.

“The Board of Education has recognized that the funding that has been provided to the libraries and the park board does perform an important function for the educational system. They’ve never taken a position, in this case, that the somehow, they are being required to provide funding for non-school purposes,” Williams said.

Williams said it’s important to let the voters decide how to proceed.

“The state action is to give to voters the opportunity to make a decision. It would be different if the Legislature passed a law that said you will provide funding to the parks and library of a certain amount,” he said.

The Supreme Court is expected to make a final ruling by May.