Supreme Court won't rehear Indian Impact Aid case

Wednesday, June 6, 2007  

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request to rehear an Indian Impact Aid case from New Mexico.

Two school districts sued the Department of Education over the way it calculates Impact Ad. The schools said they were being shortchanged of millions of dollars to educate Indian students.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court sided with the federal government. The majority said the department's formula was reasonable and entitled to deference

The schools asked for a rehearing although they considered the effort a "long shot," a school board member for the Zuni public school district said.

The two districts serve a significant number of Navajo and Pueblo students.

Get the Story:
Supreme Court won’t reopen Zuni, Gallup McKinley districts funding case (AP 6/5)
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Zuni Public School District v. Department of Education:
Syllabus | Opinion [Breyer] | Concurrence [Stevens] | Dissent [Scalia] | Dissent [Souter]

Zuni Public School District Documents:
Questions Presented | Petition | New Mexico Brief in Opposition | Department of Justice Brief in Opposition

Relevant Links:
NARF-NCAI Tribal Supreme Court Project - http://doc.narf.org/sc/index.html
Impact Aid - http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/impactaid
National Indian Education Association - http://www.niea.org

Related Stories:
Sen. Dorgan calls for Impact Aid funding (05/10)
Supreme Court rules on Indian Impact Aid case (04/19)
School districts fight for bigger share of Impact Aid (9/28)
High court prepares for upcoming term (9/27)
Impact aid for Native students was $2K in 2003 (2/17)