Perhaps the most direct mechanism to challenge release time is strategic public interest litigation; that is, challenging release time provisions in collective bargaining agreements and the public expenditures made pursuant to those provisions in court. Litigation challenges can be predicated on one of two legal claims, which can be brought separately or together, depending on a state’s particular jurisprudence, standing doctrines, and the characteristics of the plaintiffs.
The Goldwater Institute has brought challenges to release time under state constitution “gift clauses” or “anti-aid clauses” in Arizona, Texas, and New Jersey. In addition to the gift clause cases, there are also significant federal and state free expression and association as well as Right to Work challenges to release time.
New Jersey taxpayers—represented by the Goldwater Institute—filed a case challenging a collective bargaining agreement in Jersey City which required a school district to pay the salaries of two full-time teachers who did not spend their time educating children, but instead performed full-time union work. In August 2019, the New Jersey Court of Appeals sided with the taxpayers. In its ruling, the Court of Appeals said that these teachers were “act[ing] exclusively as labor leaders,” rather than as “teachers who serve the day-to-day educational needs of the students of the district.” The court ruled that the practice is not authorized by statute, is “against public policy,” and that public funds can no longer be used for release time. The case came before the state Supreme Court in October 2020, and we are currently awaiting the court’s ruling.
Additionally, in Austin, Texas, the Goldwater Institute is challenging a collective bargaining agreement allows the equivalent of up to four full-time firefighters to be released from their very important jobs and instead go to work exclusively for their labor union.
Read more about how release time can be fought in court in our report Litigation and Legislative Solutions to Taxpayer-funded Release Time.