“Because Clapp is bringing a claim based on taxpayer standing, she is alleging financial injury as a taxpayer,” Sande wrote. “Particularly, in a case such as this (where Clapp bases her taxpayer standing on allegations of illegal disbursements of public funds), the injury must take the form of diminished public funds as a result of illegal disbursements.”
“Clapp has not alleged a direct or imminent injury of this kind,” the judge added.
The contract was agreed to last March by Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers following a 14-day teacher strike. One of its proposals stated that teachers from “underrepresented populations” could be “exempted from district-wide layoff[s] outside seniority order” and prioritized their reinstatement over white teachers in the event of layoffs.
[Standing can be tricky. Judges are skeptical of taxpayer-based complaints without direct impact on the plaintiffs themselves, as that would open the floodgates of lawfare and bury the courts. This will likely have to get filed by a teacher in the school district or the state legislature. Democrats control both chambers in this session, so best of luck with that idea. — Ed]
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