Is Education a Fundamental Right?

Kelly L. Coppes

Wk. 5 Essay

10/20/2013

Cassidy Nance has filed a suit in Florida State Court regarding her Granddaughter being denied an adequate Education. Ms. Nance is specifically arguing that the school is inadequate to meet the needs of the students. Cassidy's Granddaughter, Beth, lives in a rural town where there are few tax payers to help fund the school.

Classes are currently being held in a modular unit without air-conditioning and appropriate space for the students.

Cassidy's attorneys are arguing that education is a fundamental right and that the state of Florida is denying Beth and other students this right by not providing them the tools necessary to receive that education.

In the case of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriquez (1973) the Supreme Court rejected a claim that Education is a fundamental right. Therefore, litigants have since turned to state courts and constitutions to address inequalities in education.

The question we are discussing is whether there is a fundamental right to education in Florida? A fundamental right is a Constitutional right of the higher order and one to which utmost constitutional protection is applied, including strict scrutiny protection.

In the case of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriquez (1973) it was made clear that the court's desire to confine strict scrutiny to cases involving rights that are either expoicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the constitution. It was not enough the court said in its 5 to 4 decision, that a right is very important of constitutional rights.

The Court said that however important education might be, and however helpful education might be to the exercise of First Amendment rights, it is not a "fundamental right" of the sort that triggers strict scrutiny under the equal Protection Clause. The law was found to support the state's interest in decentralized education.

There are questions that have aroused some suspicion and need answered:

* Should the Court in San Antonio v. Rodriquez have recognized education as a fundamental right?

* How does one square Rodriquez with other cases that found rights not explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution to be "fundamental," and thus triggering strict scrutiny?

* Do we agree with the majority that the Texas school financing scheme furthers a significant state interest?

The Texas Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the disparities in the state's funding plan for schools violated the Texas Constitution. A number of other state supreme courts reached