OMAHA, Neb.-
Taxpayers have paid $12 million to private attorneys hired to handle Omaha-area disputes about school finances and boundaries, according to a copyright story in Sunday’s editions of the Omaha World-Herald.
Almost all the money has been paid to two Omaha firms the past 3 1/2 years. The Omaha Public Schools hired Baird Holm, and the state and suburban districts hired Fraser Stryker.
Three issues prompted the spending, the newspaper reported. They were the OPS lawsuit against the state’s school funding system, the Omaha district’s attempt to take over suburban districts and matters pertaining to the 2006 law that would break apart OPS and create a two-county learning community.
Not included in the $12 million were lobbying costs or staff time for the three issues, and neither were millions the districts paid lawyers during the same period for routine legal work.
“This seems to me to be crazy,” said Lincoln Sen. Ron Raikes. “These are legal fees, paid pretty much by taxpayers, for a school district to conduct a legal war against another school district or against the state.”
Raikes, who heads the Legislature’s education committee, has introduced a bill (LB639) that would make school districts and other local, political subdivisions rely on the offices of elected county attorneys much like arms of state government use the state Attorney General’s Office.
OPS Superintendent John Mackiel said he doesn’t regret paying for private attorneys after years of failed pleas to the Legislature for increased funding.
“Indeed, it’s a sad commentary,” Mackiel said. “Had the system worked, we would not have engaged attorneys.”
The World-Herald obtained details of legal bills from OPS, the suburban districts and the state to determine how much the controversies were costing taxpayers.
Since filing the funding lawsuit in 2003, OPS has spent more than $7.7 million with Baird Holm on the three matters. An additional $378,000 was spent on legal fees in the years leading up to the funding lawsuit.
In addition, OPS spent nearly $3.6 million on regular legal services.
The state has paid more than $3.1 million to Fraser Stryker in the funding lawsuit and the cases stemming from LB1024, the learning community proposal.
Millard, Ralston, Elkhorn and Westside paid a total of about $750,000 in legal fees, largely to fight the OPS takeover attempt.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald,
