Education Policy via Litigation
photo: Jawed Karim (commons.wikimedia.org)
Education is a highly politicized aspect of society, affecting the lives of millions and requiring hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The politics of education policy may be unavoidable, but there are reform strategies that bypass politicians and voters. Try a lawsuit.
In a couple of prior blog posts, I’ve praised the efforts to improve public education by seeking legal remedies; specifically, I’ve written about Lobato v. Colorado (here, and here), along with a case in Kansas. A preliminary ruling in the Lobato case held that Colorado had failed to uphold its duty under the state constitution, to provide a quality education to all of its children – though the Colorado Supreme Court just overturned that ruling. Too bad. I thought the judge’s initial ruling was a powerful indictment of governmental and societal indifference to school quality, and suggested some real accountability for the notion that a quality education really is a right, as expressed in many state constitutions.
Here in California, there are currently two adequacy cases in the courts: Campaign for Quality Education v. State of California, and Robles-Wong v. State of California. More recently, a variation on the adequacy lawsuit has entered the court system, one that aims to address inequity in the distribution of “quality” teachers. Plaintiffs
In a couple of prior blog posts, I’ve praised the efforts to improve public education by seeking legal remedies; specifically, I’ve written about Lobato v. Colorado (here, and here), along with a case in Kansas. A preliminary ruling in the Lobato case held that Colorado had failed to uphold its duty under the state constitution, to provide a quality education to all of its children – though the Colorado Supreme Court just overturned that ruling. Too bad. I thought the judge’s initial ruling was a powerful indictment of governmental and societal indifference to school quality, and suggested some real accountability for the notion that a quality education really is a right, as expressed in many state constitutions.
Here in California, there are currently two adequacy cases in the courts: Campaign for Quality Education v. State of California, and Robles-Wong v. State of California. More recently, a variation on the adequacy lawsuit has entered the court system, one that aims to address inequity in the distribution of “quality” teachers. Plaintiffs