Wow, this story did not make the local newspapers, or if it did, I missed it. This is where we need legal advocacy to “amend and strengthen the state constitution’s education clause.” What kind of a legal advocacy organization would handle something like this?
Almost sixty years to the day of the U.S. Supreme court’s historic Brown decision, the Rhode Island Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit against the stste’s inequitable funding system. The court said it was “deeply concerned” and acknowledged that the funding disparities hurt poor urban children most, but passed the buck. “Not our problem,” the court said.
Here is a summary from the Education Law Center.
RI SUPREME COURT IS “DEEPLY CONCERNED” BUT DENIES RELIEF TO SCHOOL CHILDREN
May 15, 2014
On May 3, 2014, the Rhode Island Supreme Court dismissed the fair school funding case, Woonsocket v. State. The Court concluded that conditions in the plaintiffs’ schools “make a strong case” against the current funding system. Nonetheless, the justices denied plaintiffs the chance to present their evidence in a trial on the merits of the case.
The Court wrote, “We emphasize that we are deeply concerned by the conditions of…
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Fortunately, Rhode Islanders have a chance to address this in November when we can vote on whether or not to have a constitutional convention which I think is the only realistic way to address this inequality. (Such a vote is required every ten years)