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The Right to An 'Adequate' Education

The teaching of evolution comes under fire—again.

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Increasingly, NEA state affiliates are challenging the constitutionality of school funding systems.

Fed up with chronically underfunded schools, NEA state affiliates, along with parents and school boards, are turning to the courts for help. And in increasing numbers, state courts are ordering their legislatures to spend more on public education.

According to the Advocacy Center for Children's Educational Success with Standards (ACCESS), school finance litigation has occurred in 45 states, and lawsuits are still pending in approximately 22 states, including new "adequacy" cases recently filed in Alaska, Georgia, and Nebraska. 

Since the late 1980s, plaintiffs' arguments have focused on the "adequacy" of educational opportunity rather than "equality" of educational expenditures, and they have prevailed in most of these cases. According to Molly Hunter, director of legal research for ACCESS, plaintiffs have won 20 of the 26 "adequacy" cases. Detailed information about school finance litigation is available on the ACCESS Web site.

Since 1987, at least 15 NEA state affiliates have participated in legal challenges to school finance systems in varying degrees of involvement, and NEA and its affiliates have spent more than $4.1 million on school finance litigation. 

Judges Rule for Kids' Rights

Since July 2004, courts in at least seven states have declared their school financing systems unconstitutional. Some recent decisions:

In February, a New York judge ordered the state to provide an additional $5.63 billion to improve New York City's public schools. New York's highest court ruled in 2003 that the state had violated students' fundamental right to a "sound basic education" under the state constitution, and the trial judge issued the February order after the state missed a July 30, 2004, deadline for creating its own remedy.

The Kansas Supreme Court held in January that the state's school funding system violates the state constitution. The court, however, refused to order the state to appropriate a specific sum to cure the violation, despite a legislative study that concluded that an additional $800 million was needed. Instead, the court set an April 12 deadline for the legislature to act.

The court said that any new system the Kansas legislature devises "must reflect a level of funding which meets the constitutional requirement that 'the legislature shall provide for intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement by establishing and maintaining public schools.'"

Last December, a Texas judge declared that the state's system of school funding contravenes the Texas constitution's guarantee of an "adequate, suitable, and efficient education system." He gave the legislature until October 1 to come up with a new system.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled in November that the state's school finance system "fails to adequately fund Montana's public schools," in violation of the state constitution. As in the Kansas case, the court declined to order a specific remedy, but left it to the 2005 legislature to fashion a solution.

Last August, the State of California agreed to settle a lawsuit filed in 2000 on behalf of California students who attend substandard schools. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the state agreed to provide almost $1 billion to ensure that students attend schools that are clean and safe, receive sufficient instructional materials, and are taught by qualified teachers. The settlement was to be presented to the court for its approval in late March.

Also last August, a Maryland state court judge ruled that Baltimore school officials continue to fail to provide that city's schoolchildren with a "thorough and efficient" education as required by the state constitution.

And last July, the Supreme Court of North Carolina affirmed a trial court decision that the state had failed to provide a "sound basic education" to students in rural counties.

On the flip side, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in February that the commonwealth's system of school funding did not violate the education clause of its constitution.

Michael D. Simpson
NEA Office of General Counsel