State of Michigan says literacy is not a fundamental right
The State of Michigan wants a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to establish a constitutional right to literacy.
"The United States Supreme Court and Michigan courts recognize the importance of literacy," state lawyers wrote in a response last week to a suit filed on behalf of Detroit school children. "But as important as literacy may be, the United States Supreme Court has unambiguously rejected the claim that public education is a fundamental right under the Constitution. Literacy is a component or particular outcome of education, not a right granted to individuals by the Constitution."
Kathryn Eidmann, one of the lawyers representing the children, said the state is ducking the issues.
"The response completely fails to engage with the 136-page complaint’s specific and detailed allegations documenting the extreme and indefensible conditions that deny children access to literacy in Detroit schools: classrooms without books or teachers, sweltering and freezing temperatures, vermin infestations, and buildings that are literally falling apart," Eidmann said. "Each day that the state chooses to fight this lawsuit is another day of education lost that may never be recovered. Would the state try to wash its hands of this matter if the students suffering were not children of color from low-income families?"
Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/11/21/state-michigan-says-literacy-not-fundamental-right/94218364/
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