New Wrinkle in School Funding Clash

February 8, 2010

The Napa County Office of Education is seeking reimbursement for legal costs it incurred defending itself from a lawsuit brought by the St. Helena Unified School District.

Last week, lawyers representing the Napa County Office of Education filed a motion in Solano County Superior Court asking the court to impose sanctions on the St. Helena school district and its attorneys for what lawyers allege is a “frivolous lawsuit” relating to funding for Howell Mountain and Pope Valley students who attend St. Helena High School.

The case was originally filed in Napa County Superior Court, but is being heard in Solano because it involves multiple public agencies within Napa County, and because of the publicity the dispute has generated in Napa County.

Last week’s motion claims that the St. Helena district knew its lawsuit was groundless, but filed it “for the primary purpose of harassing NCOE and attempting to run up legal expenses, so that NCOE would capitulate to the unfounded demands of the district.”

“St. Helena and its lawyers ignored legal precedent shared by NCOE, rejected an invitation to discuss the relevant law, and filed a frivolous lawsuit for purely political pressure to forc e the payment of money,” lawyers for the Napa County Office of Education claim.

The motion claims that Miller, Brown & Dannis, the district’s San Francisco law firm, should also be subject to sanctions for filing a lawsuit without “legal or factual merit” in violation of the state’s Code of Civil Procedure.

Lawyers say the county office has incurred $83,000 in legal costs so far, and the latest motion will cost another $6,300.

According to the Catrina Howatt, chief business official for St. Helena Unified, as of December the district had spent $302,000 on legal fees related to the issue.

St. Helena Superintendent Robert Haley dismissed the Napa County Office of Education’s allegations, which he said “have absolutely no merit.”

“Unfortunately, it just highlights once again our county superintendent’s unwillingness to look for solutions, mediate and find a cooperative way to resolve this,” said Haley.

In the suit, filed in April, St. Helena school officials alleged the Napa County Office of Education has improperly received millions of dollars in property tax revenue intended to cover the cost of educating students from the K-8 Howell Mountain and Pope Valley school districts who attend St. Helena High School. St. Helena taxpayers are paying about $1 million a year to educate the roughly 70 students from those districts who attend St. Helena High School, St. Helena school officials say. Since St. Helena is a Basic Aid district, its funding is based on local property taxes, not on how many students it serves. The district claims that taxpayers in Howell Mountain and Pope Valley are still, in effect, paying a high school tuition tax that dates back to the late 1950s, with the money going to the Napa County Office of Education.

The Napa County Office of Education argues that the high schoo l tuition tax was repealed in 1980, shortly after Proposition 13 was passed. The Napa County Office of Education claims it doesn’t have the authority to hand over any of its tax revenue. Napa County Superintendent of Schools Barbara Nemko has argued that while the St. Helena school district has more money per student than most other school districts, her office is providing services such as vocational education and classes for students in trouble, services that benefit the entire county.

The two sides entered into mediation in November, but didn’t resolve their differences.

The Napa County Office of Education has asked the court to throw out the original suit. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Feb. 23 in Solano County Superior Court. A hearing on the Napa County Office of Education’s request for sanctions is scheduled for June 18.