Kids in Michigan have no right to be educated in state's schools

It’s pretty hard to top poisoning the water system of a whole town of people. Anything you do after that just doesn’t quite seem to measure up. So, the fact that students in Detroit cannot read and are not being educated is no big thing to “Slick” Rick Snyder. The students “have no fundamental right to literacy,” so, that’s that. According to lawyers for the State of Michigan, that is. 

A California public interest law firm is representing seven Detroit public school students who believe the education they are getting is substandard and essentially want the courts to rule that literacy is a fundamental constitutional right reports WWJ legal analyst Charlie Langton.

The suit looks to establish that literacy is a U.S. constitutional right.

“Decades of State disinvestment in and deliberate indifference to Detroit schools have denied Plaintiff schoolchildren access to the most basic building block of education: literacy,” the suit claims at its start.

The lawsuit says the schools are in “slum-like conditions” and “functionally incapable of delivering access to literacy.” The case, filed in federal court, directly accuses Gov. Rick Snyder, the state school board and others of violating the civil rights of low-income students.

The lawsuit could face some challenges says Langton, adding that while there are some difficulties with Detroit public schools, the judge could say that the solution may be better addressed by the elected school board, or through the political process.

Basically, the suit is claiming that Michigan is supposed to comply with U.S. constitutional mandates in education, especially since children are required by law to attend school in Michigan.

Five years ago—as in, 5—a report from the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund found that 47 percent of Detroiters were functionally illiterate:

“Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what’s on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks,” [acccording to Director Karen Tyler-Ruiz]. [...]

Some of the Detroit suburbs also have high numbers of functionally illiterate: 34 percent in Pontiac and 24 percent in Southfield.  

A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for this February. The governor’s office has made no further comments.

SMDH.