Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. v. Florida State Board of Education

*128This case involves a nearly ten-year attempt by Petitioners to have the State of Florida's K-12 public education system declared unconstitutional due to the State's alleged failure to comply with article IX, section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, which provides in relevant part as follows:

*129(a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education ....

Art. IX, § 1(a), Fla. Const. Specifically, Petitioners seek a declaration that the State is breaching its "paramount duty to make adequate provision for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education." And Petitioners request the courts to order the State "to establish a remedial plan that ... includes necessary studies to determine what resources and standards are necessary to provide a high quality education to Florida students."

The language in article IX, section 1(a) regarding "fundamental value," "paramount duty of the state," and "efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education" was added in 1998, after the changes were proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) and approved by the voters. Prior to 1998, article IX, section 1 provided in relevant part as follows:

Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform system of free public schools ....

The 1998 amendments were in part in response to Coalition for Adequacy & Fairness in School Funding, Inc. v. Chiles (Coalition ), 680 So.2d 400 (Fla. 1996), in which this Court upheld the trial court's dismissal with prejudice of a complaint that "asked the trial court to declare that an adequate education is a fundamental right ... and that the State has failed to provide its students that fundamental right by failing to allocate adequate resources for a uniform system of free public schools." Id. at 402. The allegations in Coalition -made in the context of "a blanket assertion that the entire system is constitutionally inadequate," id. at 406 -focused on purported inadequacies in funding and disparities relating to certain subgroups of students, including "[e]conomically deprived students," disabled students, and "[s]tudents in property-poor counties." Id. at 402. This Court upheld the dismissal with prejudice because the appellants made "an insufficient showing" "to justify" "judicial intrusion" into the Legislature's powers and responsibilities. Id. at 407 ; see id. at 408 (Overton, J., concurring).

Here, Petitioners' blanket challenge bears a striking resemblance to that in Coalition , namely in its focus on purportedly inadequate funding and on disparities relating to certain subgroups of students. The trial court, relying on Coalition and dismissing the relevance of the 1998 amendments, rejected Petitioners' challenge. The First District Court of Appeal affirmed.

We have for review Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. v. Florida State Board of Education (Citizens ), 232 So.3d 1163 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017), in which the First District concluded that the 1998 amendments-namely, the words "efficient" and "high quality"-do not provide sufficiently manageable standards to overcome the political question and separation of powers concerns that were determinative in Coalition . We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.

We conclude that Coalition defeats Petitioners' claim because Petitioners-like the appellants in Coalition -fail to present any manageable standard by which to *130avoid judicial intrusion into the powers of the other branches of government. Accordingly, we approve the result reached by the First District. Before explaining our decision, we review the lengthy procedural history of this case.

I. BACKGROUND

This case began in November 2009-in the wake of the Great Recession-when certain public school students, parents, and citizen organizations (collectively, Petitioners) filed suit against the State Board of Education, the President of the Florida Senate, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and the Florida Commissioner of Education (collectively, Respondents) seeking a declaration that the State is breaching its paramount duty under article IX, section 1(a). Or as the First District later described it, Petitioners' claim is "that the State's entire K-12 public education system-which includes 67 school districts, approximately 2.7 million students, 170,000 teachers, 150,000 staff members, and 4,000 schools-is in violation of the Florida Constitution." Citizens , 232 So.3d at 1165.

In their complaint, Petitioners cited the 1998 amendments to article IX, section 1 and asserted that "adequate provision" and "high quality" are to be "measured by both the enumerated characteristics of and inputs into the system itself as well as the outcome results of that system." Petitioners largely focused on purported inadequacies in funding and alleged that the "2009 Appropriations Act for K-12 education violates the Education Clause of the Florida Constitution." Petitioners also criticized, among other things, the State's "current accountability policy," "misus[e]" of standardized test results, inadequate graduation rates, and achievement test results. Petitioners further alleged that the State's alleged "failure to provide a high quality education disproportionately impacts minority, low income and students with disabilities." In the end, Petitioners requested that the trial court order Respondents "to establish a remedial plan that conforms with the Florida Constitution." Petitioners later amended their complaint to request that the remedial plan "include[ ] necessary studies to determine what resources and standards are necessary to provide a high quality education to Florida students."

Respondents' Motion to Dismiss

Respondents moved to dismiss Petitioners' complaint, principally on the basis that Petitioners' claim "alleges a non-justiciable political question" and was similar to the blanket challenge rejected in Coalition . The trial court denied Respondents' motion, distinguishing Coalition as "no longer binding authority" because the allegations there were less comprehensive and were "based on a prior and weaker version of the current Article IX, Section 1." The trial court instead relied on this Court's 2006 decision in Bush v. Holmes , 919 So.2d 392 (Fla. 2006), which interpreted the post-1998 article IX, section 1 in the context of a challenge to a voucher program. The trial court pointed to language in Holmes that noted that the 1998 amendments had been drafted "to provide standards by which to measure the adequacy of the public school education provided by the state." (Quoting Holmes , 919 So.2d at 403.) The trial court thus permitted Petitioners' claim "seek[ing] system-wide declaratory and supplemental relief" to proceed.

Respondents' Petition for a Writ of Prohibition

Respondents-continuing to rely on Coalition -next petitioned the First District for a writ of prohibition, asserting that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the political questions presented by the case.

*131Haridopolos v. Citizens for Strong Sch., Inc. , 81 So.3d 465, 470 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). The First District sitting en banc denied the petition but noted that Respondents' arguments regarding the political question doctrine would remain available on appeal. Id. at 471. The First District also certified the following as a question of great public importance:

DOES ARTICLE IX, SECTION 1(A), FLORIDA CONSTITUTION, SET FORTH JUDICIALLY ASCERTAINABLE STANDARDS THAT CAN BE USED TO DETERMINE THE ADEQUACY, EFFICIENCY, SAFETY, SECURITY, AND HIGH QUALITY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION ON A STATEWIDE BASIS, SO AS TO PERMIT A COURT TO DECIDE CLAIMS FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT (AND SUPPLEMENTAL RELIEF) ALLEGING NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ARTICLE IX, SECTION 1(A) OF THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION ?

Id. at 473. Judge Roberts and six other judges dissented, arguing that the petition should be granted. Id. at 481 (Roberts, J., dissenting). Judge Roberts examined Coalition and concluded that the 1998 amendments were "ultimately irrelevant":

Whether the [Constitution Revision] Commission intended to create a justiciable standard is ultimately irrelevant. The test is whether an enforceable standard was actually created by the text of the amendment itself. Because the terms "efficient ... and high quality" are no more susceptible to judicial enforcement than the term "adequate," this claim cannot be enforced by the courts.

Id. at 478 (Roberts, J., dissenting).

This Court declined to exercise jurisdiction. Haridopolos v. Citizens for Strong Sch., Inc. , 103 So.3d 140 (Fla. 2012) (table).

Petitioners' Second Amended Complaint

In May 2014-nearly 4.5 years after their original complaint challenging the "2009 Appropriations Act"-Petitioners filed a Second Amended Complaint.1 Petitioners again focused on funding, including alleged failures of the State both to provide an adequate "overall level of funding" and to "conduct[ ] a cost analysis in order to determine the amount of funding required to institute a high quality education system." Petitioners also alleged that the State had failed to provide "a 'uniform' system of free public schools," was instead "systematically diverting public funds to private schools," and had "created a parallel system of schools." To support their uniformity argument, Petitioners described two choice programs-the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) and the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (McKay). Petitioners also alleged for the first time that the State had failed to provide an "efficient system of free public schools," claiming that the State's various reforms and programs had "wasted millions of dollars without producing the desired effect of a high quality public school system." Petitioners reiterated their allegation that the State had failed to produce a "high quality" system, and they again requested an order directing Respondents "to establish a remedial plan that ... includes necessary studies to determine what resources and standards are necessary to provide a high quality education to Florida students."

FTC/McKay Intervenors

In the wake of Petitioners' factual allegations regarding the FTC and McKay *132programs, the trial court permitted certain parents whose children were beneficiaries of those programs to intervene (Intervenors). Petitioners later filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment seeking a declaratory judgment that the FTC and McKay programs violate the uniformity requirement of article IX, section 1(a). The Intervenors opposed and submitted their own Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings.

The trial court eventually ruled that the Second Amended Complaint did not contain any "claim that either program violates the Florida Constitution" and did not include any request for declaratory relief with respect to either program. The trial court also ruled that Petitioners lacked standing to challenge the FTC program. The trial court nevertheless permitted Petitioners-consistent with the pleadings-to present evidence "regarding the impact of each program on the uniformity and funding of the overall public education system."

The Trial Court's Final Judgment

After years of substantial discovery, the case proceeded to trial in 2016. After a nearly four-week bench trial involving dozens of witnesses and more than 5,000 exhibits, the trial court-a different trial judge than the one who originally denied Respondents' motion to dismiss-entered Final Judgment against Petitioners "on all claims." The trial court did so after making extensive and detailed findings. Indeed, the Final Judgment includes a 175-page appendix of findings of fact.

The trial court early on noted that "Florida's system of education is structurally complicated," in part because each county has its own school board with constitutional duties and authority. The trial court thus explained that variability necessarily exists between school districts, even among those with equivalent funding, given "variations in how the local districts allocate their resources." And the trial court concluded that the school districts, who were not parties to the suit, were "indispensable parties" to the extent Petitioners "seek relief for decisions that Florida law entrusts to local school districts-including decisions on hiring, staffing, and the allocation of resources among schools within a particular district."

The trial court went on to address the issue of justiciability anew, concluding that Petitioners presented a nonjusticiable "blanket" challenge to the adequacy of the entire education system and that, despite the 1998 amendments, the "new adjectives ... -'efficient and high quality'-do not give judicially manageable content to the adequacy standard that was held non-justiciable in the Coalition case." In other words, the issues remained "political questions best resolved in the political arena." The trial court noted for example that "many of Florida's education policies and programs are subject to ongoing debate without any definitive consensus." The trial court also held that Petitioners' claim fails because of "Florida's strict separation-of-powers doctrine."

Nevertheless, given the lack of a final appellate ruling on the justiciability issue, the trial court-at great length-addressed the evidence. After determining that the burden was on Petitioners to show that Respondents' actions "are irrational or unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt," the trial court repeatedly discussed the "weight of the evidence" and what the evidence showed for each of Petitioners' major subdivisions of allegations. For example, the trial court concluded:

The weight of the evidence shows that the State has made education a top priority both in terms of implementation of research-based education policies and reforms, as well as education funding.

*133The State has an accountability and assessment system that is rated among the best in the nation, resulting in more "A" graded schools over time. The State has also adopted rigorous teacher certification, training and evaluation standards, resulting in over 94% of courses being taught by teachers who are "highly qualified" under federal standards.

Regarding funding, the trial court found, "based on the evidence presented, that there is not a constitutional level lack of resources available in Florida schools." More specifically, the trial court observed:

With respect to funding, the evidence indicates that over the past twenty years, K-12 education has been the single largest component of the state general revenue budget. Even during the recent, severe economic downturn, the State ensured that education funding was less impacted than other government services and functions. In the current school year, the State funds education at the highest level in Florida history. Since the 1997-98 school year, education funding has outpaced inflation. The State has made efforts to equalize its funding and considers education costs for different student programs and cost-of-living differences across the state. It also is significant that the State has provided sufficient funding for schools to meet the class size requirements set forth in Article IX.2

The trial court also found that the State's "complex funding formula"-the Florida Education Finance Program-"is generally recognized as one of the most equalizing school funding formulas in the nation." The trial court also determined that "all of the school districts in Florida have excess capacity for generating revenue through local property taxes or sales surtaxes" and that "many" of the district witnesses cited "political" reasons for not doing so.

The trial court also addressed Petitioners' arguments regarding graduation rates, test results, and disparities among certain subgroups. After determining that the "most appropriate" examination of student performance is one that views that performance "over time and in context," the trial court described substantial, dramatic, and sustained improvements that have taken place in Florida since the late 1990's, including that "the high school graduation rate has increased by over 25 points, with more students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds graduating than ever before." The trial court also cited "dramatic" and sustained improvement on test results as measured by "a variety of measures, including national and international assessments." Regarding achievement and performance gaps, the trial court found that these gaps unfortunately "exist throughout the country," but that "Florida's gaps are smaller than the national gaps, and Florida has outpaced the nation in closing these gaps ." (Emphasis added.) As one example, the trial court found that "Florida's students eligible for free-and-reduced-price lunch ranked first in the nation, outperforming similar economically disadvantaged students in all other states." As another example, the trial court found that during the relevant period, Florida was "the only state in the nation to narrow the achievement gap between White and Black/African-American students in both reading and mathematics in the fourth and eighth grades." And as it relates to Petitioners' theory of the case-that is, the "need for more resources" argument-the trial court specifically *134found that Petitioners "failed to establish any causal relationship between any alleged low student performance and a lack of resources." (Emphasis added.) In the end, the trial court described an education system that is not perfect but that is working very well overall and has been "a top priority" of the State.

Finally, regarding the FTC and McKay programs, the trial court reiterated its prior rulings and found "no negative effect on the uniformity or efficiency of the State system of public schools due to these choice programs."

The First District's Decision

On appeal, the First District affirmed in all respects. Citizens , 232 So.3d at 1174. The First District agreed with the trial court that Petitioners' arguments "raise political questions not subject to judicial review, because the relevant constitutional text does not contain judicially discoverable standards by which a court can decide whether the State has complied with organic law." Id. at 1165. The First District also agreed that Florida's "strict separation of powers ... requires judicial deference to the legislative and executive branches to adopt and execute educational policies those branches deem necessary and appropriate to enable students to obtain a 'high quality' education." Id. at 1165-66. According to the First District, article IX, section 1(a) does not "empower judges to order the enactment of educational policies regarding teaching methods and accountability, the appropriate funding of public schools, the proper allowance of charter schools and school choice, the best methods of student accountability and school accountability, and related funding priorities." Id. at 1166.

The First District began by examining Coalition and its reference to the Supreme Court's analysis of the political question doctrine in Baker v. Carr , 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). Citizens , 232 So.3d at 1168. The First District explained how the instant case fell within Baker 's "dominant considerations " of "attributing finality to the action of the political departments and also the lack of satisfactory criteria for a judicial determination.' " Id. (quoting Baker , 369 U.S. at 210, 82 S.Ct. 691 ). Indeed, the First District noted that this case "consume[d] years in the court system ... over the meaning of subjective and undefined phrases that might function to give guidance to political decision makers as laudable goals, but cannot guide judges in deciding whether a state or local government has in fact complied with the text." Id. at 1169.

The First District then explained how Coalition rejected a similar "blanket challenge to the adequacy of the education system." Id. at 1169-70. The First District noted that the plaintiffs in Coalition "failed to demonstrate any manageable standards that could be applied without 'a substantial risk of judicial intrusion into the powers and responsibilities assigned to the legislature.' " Id. at 1170 (quoting Coalition , 680 So.2d at 408 ). The First District agreed with the trial court that " 'efficient' and 'high quality' are no more susceptible to judicial interpretation than 'adequate' was under the prior version of the education provision." Id.

The First District concluded that its holding was supported "by Florida's strict separation of powers doctrine and by the language of the amended constitutional article itself." Id. On the latter point, the First District noted that the 1998 amendments retained the language that "adequate provision shall be made by law ," id. at 1171 (quoting art. IX, § 1(a), Fla. Const.), leading the First District to conclude "that the constitution continues to *135commit education policy determinations to the legislative and executive branches," id.

The First District "recognize[d] that courts in other states have sometimes purported to define" similar concepts in their education articles, but the First District concluded that those decisions were "insufficiently deferential to the fundamental principle of separation of powers ... and the practical reality that educational policies and goals must evolve to meet ever changing public conditions." Id. at 1172. The First District instead agreed with other courts that have declined to impose upon the legislature the court's view of "adequacy, efficiency, and quality." Id.3

Lastly, the First District affirmed the trial court's rejection of Petitioners' arguments regarding uniformity and the FTC and McKay programs. Id. at 1173-74.

II. ANALYSIS

This Court is being asked to determine whether in this case we have been presented with a manageable standard for assessing-in the context of a blanket challenge to the constitutionality of the K-12 education system-whether the State has made "adequate provision" for an "efficient" and "high quality" system of education "that allows students to obtain a high quality education" under article IX, section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution. The trial court and the First District both held in the negative, relying on the reasoning in Coalition . This question presents a pure issue of law that is subject to de novo review. W. Fla. Reg'l Med. Ctr., Inc. v. See , 79 So.3d 1, 8 (Fla. 2012) ("Statutory and constitutional construction are questions of law subject to a de novo review."). We decline to address the other issues raised by Petitioners.4

We agree with the lower courts that Petitioners' blanket challenge does not survive the reasoning in Coalition , notwithstanding the 1998 amendments to article IX, section 1(a). Although we do not necessarily agree with what appears to be the district court's conclusion that an article IX challenge could never be justiciable, see Coalition , 680 So.2d at 408 (declining to say "never"), we need not decide that issue. Instead, this case turns in part on Petitioners' failure to present the courts with any roadmap by which to avoid intruding into the powers of the other branches of government.

At the outset, we strongly reject any suggestion in the dissenting opinions that those of us agreeing to approve the result reached by the First District are shirking a constitutional duty or somehow care less than the dissenting justices about the education of Florida's children. Indeed, the refusal to recognize both the blanket nature of Petitioners' challenge and that this case amounts to a request for the courts to determine the appropriate amount of education funding explains in large part the asserted struggle to understand the "judicial *136universe" in which this case is being decided. Dissenting op. at 146, 156 (Pariente, J.).5

This suit began nearly a decade ago in what largely resembled a funding challenge to the "2009 Appropriations Act." Since then, not only has that appropriations act come and gone, but so too have many subsequent appropriations acts. Moreover, in that same time span, the Legislature has revised-on more than one occasion-the standards and assessments complained of by Petitioners. And the trial court explained how the State's process for developing, administering, scoring, and reporting is "an inclusive process involving Florida educators all along the way." The point being, the education system-and education policy itself-does not remain static and is instead continually being shaped by various interested parties. Thus, Petitioners' challenge is fundamentally different than a challenge to a specific program or a specific funding issue. In effect, Petitioners ask this Court to declare the current educational system unconstitutional based on years-old evidence.

In any event, to explain why we approve the result reached by the First District, we begin by reviewing this Court's 1996 decision in Coalition . We then examine certain subsequent amendments to and failed attempts to amend article IX, section 1, including the adopted 1998 amendments at issue. We then examine this Court's more recent decision in Holmes . We conclude by explaining why Petitioners fail to overcome Coalition . As this Court did in Coalition , we decline to look to other jurisdictions. Coalition , 680 So.2d at 404-05. Instead, we look to the language of the Florida Constitution and this Court's decisions.

Coalition

In Coalition , this Court addressed a similar challenge to the "adequacy" of the entire school system, but one brought under the pre-1998 article IX, section 1. Coalition , 680 So.2d 400. The appellants in Coalition sought a declaration "that an adequate education is a fundamental right under the Florida Constitution, and that the State has failed to provide its students that fundamental right by failing to allocate adequate resources for a uniform system of free public schools." Id. at 402. Among other things, the allegations focused on purported inadequacies relating to certain subgroups of students. Id. The trial court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, and this Court affirmed. Id.

Coalition began by exploring the history of Florida's education article, noting among other things that the Constitution was amended in 1868 to provide that it was "the paramount duty of the State to make ample provision for the education of all the children," and that the "paramount duty" language was subsequently deleted in 1885. Id. at 405.6 Coalition then examined *137the language of the present education article, noting that "adequate provision" had not been defined but that this Court had on numerous occasions "attempted to define" the phrase "uniform system of free public education." Id. at 406. In doing so, this Court noted that those prior cases all involved "an objection to some specific funding issue," as opposed to "a blanket assertion" against the adequacy of "the entire [education] system." Id. Recognizing the nature of the case as a challenge to the Legislature's overall funding of education, this Court ultimately agreed with the trial court that "the courts cannot decide whether the Legislature's appropriation of funds is adequate in the abstract, divorced from the required uniformity" because doing so "would necessarily" require the courts "to subjectively evaluate the Legislature's value judgments as to the spending priorities to be assigned to the state's many needs, education being one among them." Id. at 406-07 (quoting trial court's order). This Court further agreed that "if the Court were to declare present funding levels 'inadequate,' presumably the Plaintiffs would expect the Court to evaluate, and either affirm or set aside, future appropriations decisions." Id. at 407 (quoting trial court's order).

Coalition then more directly addressed the separation of powers doctrine, explaining that the appellants' funding challenge implicated constitutional provisions other than just article IX. Indeed, after noting that the separation of powers doctrine was "expressly set[ ] forth" in article II, section 3 and that article VII, section 1(c) "expressly reserve[s] to the legislative branch" the power to appropriate funds, this Court concluded that "an insufficient showing has been made to justify judicial intrusion" into the Legislature's appropriations power. Id. at 407-08. This Court further concluded that, unlike the term "uniform," the term " 'adequacy' simply does not have such straightforward content." Id. at 408. This Court thus agreed with the appellees' reliance on Baker , in which the Supreme Court "set forth six criteria to gauge whether a case involves a political question," including "(1) a textually demonstrable commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; [and] (2) a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving it." Id. Coalition summed up:

While we stop short of saying "never," appellants have failed to demonstrate in their allegations, or in their arguments on appeal, an appropriate standard for determining "adequacy" that would not present a substantial risk of judicial intrusion into the powers and responsibilities assigned to the legislature, both generally (in determining appropriations) and specifically (in providing by law for an adequate and uniform system of education).

Id. In doing so, this Court stated "that the legislature has been vested with enormous discretion by the Florida Constitution to determine what provision to make for an adequate and uniform system of free public schools." Id. (emphasis added).

In a concurring opinion, Justice Overton agreed with the majority that an insufficient showing had been made to justify judicial intrusion but wrote separately to express his view that the majority's holding does not preclude the judiciary from being involved in the enforcement of article IX, section 1. Id. at 408 (Overton, J., concurring). Justice Overton opined that although the education article "does not *138ensure a perfect system" or "guarantee[ ] a perfect or ideal education," it also "does not preclude the treatment of education as an essential, fundamental right." Id. at 409 (Overton, J., concurring). And Justice Overton suggested that the term "adequate" must ha