Dive Brief:
- Seven students from Detroit’s public schools are suing Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the state school board, among others, arguing their civil rights are being violated by their limited access to literacy instruction in failing schools.
- CBS Detroit reports Snyder’s lawyers have argued there is no fundamental right to literacy in a city where the National Institute for Literacy estimates 47% of adults — half of whom have high school diplomas or GEDs — are functionally illiterate.
- A hearing is scheduled for February, and analysts say the judge could decide to avoid a ruling on the issue of literacy and instead direct the elected school board or policymakers to address the problem.
Dive Insight:
The Detroit case is being brought at the federal, rather than state, level — a rare move for cases of its kind. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that plaintiffs were seeking access to remedial classes to get students up to grade level, literacy screening, state monitoring and attention to school maintenance problems that inhibit learning.
Elsewhere, plaintiffs have brought cases arguing that state funding violates constitutional commitments to providing an adequate education or violates civil rights because of inequitable distribution formulas. In Connecticut, a state judge ordered a near-complete overhaul of the education system in September in a far-reaching ruling that went well beyond mere funding questions that have preoccupied judges in other states.
