A legal fight over whether Michigan schools should have to give up certain legal privileges to get state grants for mental health and school safety went before a state Court of Claims judge Thursday.
The state budget has a stipulation that, if a “mass casualty event” occurs, schools that accept the safety grant funding must agree to an investigation and give up rights to hold back any information.
Lawyer Scott Eldridge represents over 30 districts trying to overturn the requirement. He said it’s too vague since it doesn’t set time limits for how long rights would be waived or, in his view, tie the giving up of privacy rights to the investigation itself.
Eldridge says that impedes districts' efforts to protect their legal rights while also pursuing safety improvements.
“Without knowing what this language means, it paralyzes them. And so much that they’re declining hundreds of thousands of dollars in money that they actually need. This is the first time that the legislature has put this kind of condition on the receipt of school aid,” Eldridge said in an interview after the hearing.
He asked the court to strike down the language as unconstitutionally vague. He argued, as written, it could potentially have schools waive their rights indefinitely and in situations entirely unrelated to a casualty incident.
The state denied the requirement is vague and said it’s clear that the waiver would apply to a particular investigation.
The relevant section of the state’s most recent school funding bill states, to receive funding, schools “must agree to be subject to a comprehensive investigation, must affirmatively agree to waive any privilege that may otherwise protect information from disclosure in the event of a mass casualty event, and must agree to comply with a comprehensive investigation.”
The clause goes on to list what would qualify as a “mass casualty event” and what that investigation would entail.
Assistant Attorney General Adam de Bear said the provision might be broad, but its wording and goals are clear.“
[Schools] can’t simply deny all of the document requests through attorney-client privileges; they can’t use attorney-client privilege if there’s an interview and it’s the school district in their official capacity being deposed. It ensures that the state gets more information because, in past experiences, investigations haven’t gone as well as they could have,” de Bear said.
A parallel lawsuit has been filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan. It's scheduled to get a hearing next Thursday.
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