This policy brief addresses the first two rulings of the North Carolina lawsuit on the state constitutional right to education, commonly referred to as "Leandro." The "Leandro" Supreme Court opinion and subsequent court rulings add a model of adequacy that dovetails almost perfectly with standards-based education reform. Model elements include: (1) The court will not require a major overhaul of North Carolina's education system or funding system; (2) the court has significantly limited the scope of potential constitutional issues; (3) the ABCs accountability program is a critical component of the state's constitutional obligations; (4) the court aligns constitutional standards with the ABCs by setting grade-level proficiency as a clear benchmark for whether a child is on track to receive a sound basic education; (5) the court sets a requirement that local school districts must use all available resources first to provide all children with an equal opportunity to receive a sound basic education; and (6) the state is constitutionally obligated to provide preschool for at-risk 4-year-olds. The court deferred to the state legislative and executive branches in prescribing how to provide preschool. An outcome of the rulings is the inclusion of the state accountability program in the adequacy framework. (Contains 52 references.) (RT)