Lawyers will appeal the recent decision that students do not have a right to basic literacy.
Politico writes:
MICHIGAN SCHOOL QUALITY ISSUES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE: Attorneys representing Detroit school children in a high-profile “right to read” lawsuit say they plan to appeal a federal judge’s ruling dismissing the case. The case, Gary B. v. Snyder, is a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of seven Michigan students that argued that a lack of certified teachers, books, school supplies and evidence-based curricula has led to dismal English proficiency rates.
— Judge Stephen J. Murphy III in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, ruled on Friday that while the schools, as alleged, are “nothing short of devastating,” access to literacy is not a fundamental right.
— Mark Rosenbaum of Public Counsel, which helped represent the students, said in a statement that the court got it “tragically wrong.” Read more from Kimberly Hefling.
— Meanwhile, in Flint, Mich., mlive.com reports that public schools will be starting the school year this fall with water jugs — not drinking fountains — because water in the school buildings has not yet been deemed safe. The district has used bottled water for years because of the city’s water crisis.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why the heck do we send kids to school if providing an education from which they can benefit is not a legal requirement?
Maybe the Court should ask itself if they have the right to a literate work force who they may one day be dependent upon?
Such as hospital and medical tech staff?
This is the most ridiculous and horrifying ruling I’ve heard in a while.
Perhaps Erin Brokovich can provide the court with a glass of water from Flint.
joan: I love the irony in THAT comment.
It also fits well with combining our education and labor departments. Only it’s now “work training” and labor. Let’s forget about educating for citizenship and for self-mastery (rather than by the law, by deception, or by brute force) and just train people to work for the rich, ignorant, and careless among us.
Awful decision.
Thanks so much for posting this. I’d been following the case and had read the original complaint. I’ll now read the decision. For those inclined, I would suggest reading the complaint in tandem. At present I can’t imagine what the justification for dismissal was – the conditions under which these students attend school are tragic in every sense.
There’s a lot to be said about this case (the complaint is an excellent primary source and starting-point for anyone researching long-term inequity in our education system) and what it says about Michigan, the home of our Sec of Ed, and more generally about how the education of the poorest of our fellow-citizens is treated in the U.S.
(Public Counsel is to be congratulated on taking on the case as well; they also have taken on that of Steven C. v. Bureau of Indian Education, which involves the Havasupai school in Arizona. This case, however, was not dismissed and will advance to trial with a new defendant: Sec of Interior Zinke.)
The 4th of July seems to me like a fitting day to read the Gary B. v. Snyder ruling.
You should read the opinion — it’s not densely written and it lays out the history of education litigation in federal court concisely. In short, the justification for the decision is that no court, let alone the Supreme Court, has ever held that there is such a thing as a fundamental right to “access to literacy” under the US Constitution. At the same time, the Supreme Court ruled 45 years ago that there is no fundamental right to education under the US constitution.
The lesson is what we already knew: If you want to sue a state for failure to provide an adequate education, you have to sue in state court, and in a state that has a constitution that explicitly provides that the state is obligated to provide all children with some kind of education that’s minimally adequate, however defined in the state constitutional provision.
Thank you, FLERP, I will read the decision carefully. There was a reason a federal district court was chosen – this is a case argued under the U.S. Constitution’s fourteenth amendment; see “violation of their substantive right to due process of law, their liberty interest, and their right to equal protection under law protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The Michigan constitution does guarantee education to all residents – I checked, see Art.VIII §1 and 2.
You could add a 14th amendment claim to any education funding case. But I don’t think anyone would proceed in federal court and solely with federal claims unless they felt the state law options were even worse. The federal case law on these types of cases is just terrible for plaintiffs.
Omg. Thanks for posting this information, Diane. Truly.
On the 4th of July in the year 2018, there is a lot to mourn. We are a country deep in mule muffins. Never forget.
There is no right to an education. See
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1972/71-1332
Reblogged this on Network Schools – Wayne Gersen and commented:
Why are the politicians silent on this issue? It’s clear that the GOP in MI doesn’t want to provide more funding for cash starved districts… but where are the Democrats on this? One would hope they would want to be on the side of literacy!
It seems to me that a new lawsuit alleging child abuse would be in order. Parents would not be permitted to keep children in this type of environment. Why would the state be allowed to do so?
Why do citizens in a democracy have a right to read, and why does the “government” have a responsibility to teach everyone to read?
The answer is not rocket science, but it IS in the assumptions that are buried, so to speak, in the very idea of a Constitutional Democracy:
That is, we are not governed by, and we do not hold dear to, kings. Rather and beyond even presidents, citizens in a democracy have to hold dear ti the meaning of words WRITTEN in our Constitution. It’s a citizen’s fundamental obligation to understand the meaning of those words and to make them “written” in our hearts. Therefore, in a Constitutional democracy, it’s the fundamental obligation of our government to provide The People, who are charged with being INFORMED, with the ability TO READ the very Constitution that provides the political basis for our existence.
“An informed citizenry.” Citizens’ ability to read is the assumed centerpiece of our national security. CBK
Also know that at the same time the Michigan governor declared the state would not provide safe water to Flint any longer the state approved allowing Nestle to pump huge amount of water from Lake Michigan- ( the Great Lakes are the largest source of fresh water in the world). It was also reported ( surprise, surprise) that one of Governor Snyder’s top staff was married to a Nestle executive.
Something wicked this way comes.
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Hey, FLERP, Nothing in the US Constitution or the Michigan constitution says there is a “right” to safe, potable water.
Scott Pruitt agrees.
posted at Oped News. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Michigan-Do-Students-Have-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Citizens_Diane-Ravitch_Equality_Right-Wing-Mindset-Culture-180704-866.html#comment705448
In 15,800 separate school systems https://www.opednews.com/Series/15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html?f=15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html in 50 separate states, this kind of treachery is ongoing, as our citizens watch the Trump circus and the schools fail, so they can be privatized.
See all my series, https://www.opednews.com/author/series/author40790.html
here at Oped, and learn how OUR schools are being destroyed.
Here is my series on ‘privatization.’ http://www.opednews.com/Series/PRIVITIZATION-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150925-546.html
Or go the blog of Diane Ravitch–FORMER Assistant SECRETARY OF STATE is a research professor of education at New York University and the co-founder of theNetwork for Public Education, a grassroots advocacy organization. and follow the devastation.
The Demolition of American Education is ongoing.
https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-Demolition-of-American-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Choice_College_Diane-Ravitch_Education-Curriculum-170606-760.html#comment662166
We should bring forward a couple of the Amendments to the United States Constitution:
Amendment X
“Section 1: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved by the States respectively, or to the people. Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
CBK: Does this mean the right to read should not be decided by the courts merely because of the absence of governing law, but rather by the people–if it’s not in a State’s constitution (it IS in some States), perhaps it should go to ballot?
The below are relevant to our conversations about voting and about gerrymandering. CBK
Amendment XV
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Amendment XIX
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
FLERP: I believe this case has been deliberately crafted to reach SCOTUS – it was filed initially in September 2016, when it was anticipated that HRC would win the election. The plaintiffs’ main counsel is nationally known for litigation of civil rights cases – and co-counsel are equally high-powered.
It remains incomprehensible to me that in the 21st century in the United States, basic literacy would not be deemed an underlying presupposition for enjoyment of those constitutional rights to which all of our citizens are entitled.
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2018/07/02/us-court-detroit-students-have-no-right-to-access-to-literacy
I read this article earlier this week. How have these buildings not been condemned? Who in charge can sleep at night? If the school buildings were prisons, they would have been closed. Prisoners have more rights than children. We are not a third world country!!! Where is the hue and cry from the citizenry? My heart breaks.