No ruling in suit against 10 districts

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A judge heard roughly two and a half hours of arguments Friday in the case of a lawsuit accusing 10 Kent County school districts and their unions of illegally agreeing not to privatize some services.

Judge James Redford did not rule on motions by the schools and their unions to have the suit thrown out. A decision could come in about two weeks, the parties said.

Kent ISD Superintendent Kevin Konarska told 24 Hour News 8 he was disappointed the judge didn't rule Friday but "we're still very confident that the judge will dismiss the case."

Representatives from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy -- whose legal foundation filed the case on behalf of five taxpayers recruited by the center -- said the length of the argument showed that their case was not frivolous, as some district leaders have said.

The suit targets the Kent Intermediate School District and the Byron Center, Comstock Park, Godfrey-Lee, Godwin Heights, Grandville, Kenowa Hills, Lowell, Northview and Rockford districts -- along with their unions.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has argued that a contract the districts signed with their unions, in which they agree not to privatize unionized services, is illegal. Privatization is barred as a bargaining subject, the center argued.

District leaders have said they knew the contract provision wasn't enforceable, but said it was included as an acknowledgement of concessions made by workers in the deal.

In court Friday, the districts argued that the taxpayers don't have the grounds to sue because they're not parties to the agreement and that such a case could only be heard by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. A lawyer representing all 10 districts also argued that the suit was not filed within the time limits set forth in the law.

That lawyer, Craig Mutch, told the judge Friday that the legislature's rules about bargaining tell districts "you get to decide what you're going to do" about privatization.

In an interview after the hearing, Konarska again stressed that the contract in question "saved our school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars."