Kirk

Two public school districts and several students and their parents brought this action against Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction and several local officials. The plaintiffs challenged an Arizona statute requiring county treasurers to pay a portion of a school district’s ending cash balance to a state fund used for equalization of funds among school districts. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief holding that the Arizona law violates both the Federal Impact Aid Law, 20 U.S.C. §§ 236-44 , and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

On defendants’ motion to dismiss, the district court held that the school districts lacked standing to sue the State of Arizona in federal court because the districts are political subdivisions of the state. The district court also concluded that the students failed to allege distinct injury which was not derivative of the injury alleged by the school districts. As a result, the district court dismissed the school districts’ claims with prejudice. Then, in a separate paragraph, the district court dismissed the claims of the students and their parents without prejudice and with leave to file an amended…