Jamestown Public Schools Board members are pictured Tuesday. The board voted to fund litigation dues as part of the “Small Cities” lawsuit. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Will Jamestown Public Schools and its students and parents ever be able to reap the benefits from a yearslong lawsuit battle centered on state funding and education?

“I definitely see light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnel has been very, very long,” Dr. Kevin Whitaker, schools superintendent, said Tuesday of Maisto v. the State of New York, also known as the “Small Cities” case.

First filed in 2009 by parents and students from eight small-city school districts, the lawsuit contends New York state denied students a sound education by underfunding the districts.

Jamestown Public Schools has been involved in the lawsuit from the beginning; other districts named include Niagara Falls, Kingston, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie, Mount Vernon, Newburgh and Utica.

Members of the Jamestown Public Schools Board on Tuesday voted to allocate an additional $20,000 in “litigation dues” in support of the plaintiffs in the case. That prompted a discussion between some school board members on whether JPS should continue to participate in the prolonged legal battle with the state that has gone on for 13 years.

“I continue to have reservations continuing to spend more taxpayer money on a … lawsuit that seems to be getting us nowhere,” Patrick Slagle, board vice president, said. “I hope, eventually, the state comes through with the money. I think the state is clearly wrong and shortchanged us for a decade now, longer.”

In May 2021, the Appellate Division, Third Department of the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the small city school districts. It followed a decision years earlier by then-acting state Supreme Court Judge Kimberly O’Connor, who in 2016 found the plaintiffs failed to prove that the state did not meet its requirements set out in the New York State constitution for a “sound, basic education.”

As reported by the Utica Observer-Dispatch, the lawsuit goes back to the state’s 2009-10 budget when it froze school aid. That was followed by cuts the following year in response to the financial crisis.

“I think that, as well as monetarily, (the lawsuit) is bringing to the forefront the fact that we are not getting what we need to get,” said school board member Nina Karbacka, who on Tuesday alluded to a study that highlighted the monetary deficiencies within the school district.

“We can’t hire people that we should hire and that are mandated to be hired,” she said. “I think that this lawsuit is bringing that to the forefront.”

Karbacka said the case is currently in the remedy phase that has included studying deficiencies in the districts to “cost out” what would be needed to offer a sound, basic education.

“I think we’re close to the end, to be very honest,” she said.

Paul Abbott, school board president, said he understood the concerns of continuing to fund litigation in a case that has lasted more than a decade. However, he too believes there might soon be a resolution.

“Knowing that we are this close to the end when we’ve been in this fight for so long, I have a hard time stepping away now,” he said.

Shelly Leathers and Slagle were the lone members of the school board to vote against providing the $20,000. Both said they support the lawsuit and its intent.

“I think that the lawsuit was appropriate,” Leathers said. “I think it’s shed light on a lot of things that Nina has mentioned. I just feel like, at some point, I have a fiduciary responsibility and I need to exercise that vote at this point in time.”

Had Jamestown opted not to pay the litigation dues, the district would have been dropped from the lawsuit.

In speaking with reporters, Whitaker said the Maisto case has more to do with the “state’s foot-dragging in an effort to smoke out districts, essentially.”

He continued, “Their belief is that, even though they know that the funding formula and process has been unjust to poor school districts, they believe that extending through legal means the timeline for which this process would take will cause districts, especially the poorer ones, to run out of money and drop out of the lawsuit.

“I think it’s despicable and I think they should own up to their fiscal mismanagement over the course of decades and take care of the kids that need it the most.”

Whitaker said the district wants to see the state’s funding formula to schools changed to be more fair. He said JPS also should be reimbursed for the funds lost “over the course of decades.”

Should the funding be received, the superintendent said it would go toward academic intervention such as tutoring.

“Money that we need to help kids catch up to their grade level peers,” he said.