November trial date set for school funding case

A Nov. 12 date has been set by Thirty-third Circuit Judge P.B. McLauchlin for a non-jury trial regarding a civil lawsuit about Dale County tax distribution to schools in Enterprise and Dothan.

“It’s been a year and we’re almost exactly where we started,” McLauchlin said during a case status conference held Tuesday, May 14, at the Dale County Courthouse.

The lawsuit was originally set for a hearing on Jan. 10, 2018, but the hearing date was continued another five times in 2018.

Daleville City Schools Attorney Dale Marsh told McLauchlin both parties tried to reach a mutual agreement on the lawsuit, but the trial will now move forward because no resolution can be reached.

After comments during the status conference from Dothan City Schools Attorney Kevin Walding about the actual complaint against the defendants, Marsh stated that the complaint is simply that money raised in Dale County belongs in Dale County schools.

On Oct. 20, 2017, the State Department of Education issued a directive to Dale County Revenue Commissioner Eleanor Outlaw to include Enterprise City and Dothan City Schools in the distribution of Dale County school taxes.

Prior to issuing the directive, then-Interim State Superintendent of Education Ed Richardson had asked the state school systems to provide his office with the zip code locations of the students attending each school. At the time of the directive, around 600 students attended Enterprise schools who lived in Dale County and 29 students attended Dothan schools who lived in Dale County.

On Nov. 17, 2017 the Dale County Board of Education, the Daleville Board of Education and the Ozark City Schools Board filed a civil suit in Dale County court against Outlaw, the Alabama State Department of Education, the Enterprise City Board of Education and the Dothan City Board of Education.

This lawsuit led to an initial $12,000 in tax funds being kept in escrow while litigation took place. The amount has continued to accumulate in the account.

During the status conference, Daleville City Schools Attorney James Tarbox presented McLauchlin with a preliminary scheduling order agreed to by both parties that ends with the November trial.