Lawyers for House Speaker Dean Cannon filed a brief on Monday asking the Florida Supreme Court to turn down a request from Senate President Mike Haridopolos to hear arguments in a lawsuit over whether lawmakers are doing enough to fund schools.
While both Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, are defendants in the case, Cannon’s brief made it clear they differ over when the battle should move to the Supreme Court.
Haridopolos has asked the justices to rule on a decision by the 1st District Court of Appeals to let the lawsuit go forward.
But Cannon’s lawyers argue that neither the DCA’s ruling, in which eight justices agreed on the outcome but not the reasons behind it, nor the Supreme Court’s ability to claim jurisdiction in the case warrant taking it up right now.
“The issue will undoubtedly be resolved by this Court eventually, but at present, the case is not ripe for review because of the District Court of Appeal’s failure to reach a majority decision,” the brief says.
The lawsuit was brought by parents and a pair of groups that advocate for greater spending on schools.
