April 2, 2026
RALEIGH – The John Locke Foundation is encouraged by today’s court ruling in the long-running Leandro case.
“This is a victory for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the people of North Carolina,” said Donald Bryson, CEO of the John Locke Foundation. “The court correctly recognized that judges cannot write the state budget from the bench based on the opinions of an unelected judge and consultants from California. Budgets must be written by elected representatives who are accountable to the people—not by litigants who lost at the ballot box and went fishing for a judicial bailout.”
“Every child deserves access to a high-quality education,” said Bryson. “With this ruling behind us, lawmakers should focus on proven solutions—strengthening early literacy, rewarding excellent teachers, empowering parents with choice, and modernizing North Carolina’s broken school funding system so dollars follow students, not bureaucracies.”