Florida Education Adequacy Case Withstands Motion to Dismiss

Whether the state of Florida is currently denying students their constitutional right to “obtain a high quality education” may now be tested in the courts, according to the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial district, which has dismissed the state’s motion to dismiss the complaint in Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. v Florida Board of Education. Jon Mills, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs (who is a former Speaker of the Florida House and is currently professor at University of Florida Law School) emphasized the importance of the ruling stating, “This is the first time a Florida court has said the constitution can hold the state accountable for having high-quality public schools.”

In 1998 voters in Florida passed, by a 71 percent favorable referendum vote, an amendment to the state constitution which states that that it is “a paramount duty of the State to make adequate provision…. or a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education.” This constitutional mandate is probably the strongest language used in any state constitution to guarantee a level of educational services to students. Its practical significance has not, however, yet been tested in the courts.

The constitutional amendment was proposed by education advocates in response to the Florida Supreme Courts 4-3 decision in 1996 that dismissed the adequacy claims raised by the plaintiffs in Coalition for Adequacy and Fairness in School Funding, Inc. v Chiles. The court had ruled in that case that that plaintiffs “failed to demonstrate...an appropriate standard for determining ‘adequacy’ that would not present a substantial risk of judicial intrusion into the powers and responsibilities of the legislature.” The new language responded specifically to this holding, and provides a precise and concrete definition of an adequate education.

Despite the history of the constitutional amendment, the state’s motion to dismiss claimed that the case was not justiciable and used many of the same arguments they had raised in the Coalition case based on separation of powers concerns and on the six-part test (from Baker v. Carr) to “determine whether a case presents a political question outside the purview of courts.” The motion to dismiss also argued that the two advocacy groups, Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. and Fund Education Now, lacked standing.

In the Order Denying Dismissal, the Court held that the defendants’ position “renders the citizens’ vote to create a new education article as meaningless and this provision as a nullity.” The Court held not only that Coalition “does not control this case,” but also that “Plaintiffs make more comprehensive allegations than were made in Coalition.” Citing a 2006 decision of the Florida Supreme Court (Bush v. Holmes, 919 So. 2d 392), which concluded that the new constitutional language was drafted intentionally to “provide standards by which to measure the adequacy of the public education provided by the state,” the Circuit Court specifically held that “The Florida Constitution provides judicially discoverable and manageable standards that this Court can apply to resolve the issues of this case.”

In their complaint the Citizens for Strong Schools cite, as examples of the State’s failure to provide adequate education, that:

• Over the last decade since this constitutional amendment was enacted, the State has reduced overall proportional financial commitment of resources to education and reduced the schools’ capacity to provide a variety of programs.
• In 2000-2001, the State’s share of funding for public education was 62 percent. The 2009-2010 education budget provides only 44 percent from state funds.
• Florida ranks 50th in the nation in total public spending compared to in-state wealth out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Florida ranks 47th in the nation in high school graduation rates. Only 57.5% of the class of 2006 earned a regular diploma, with the national average being 69.2%. Significantly, there has been no improvement in over 10 years: in 1996 and 2006, the same percentage (57.5%) of students graduated, while the national average increased 2.8%.